Harley Quinn: Start to Finish (M)
by RJ Meijers
Summary: What if the Harley Quinn we know was obsessed with The Joker for a lot longer than we all thought. On hiatus
1. Chapter 1: So it Begins?

**Chapter 1: So it Begins.**

She could not remember when exactly she noticed it, that her thoughts were radically different than everyone else's. She did remember though what first made her able to embrace these differences and be able to laugh hysterically about it.

She had never really felt what one would call excitement, joy or even happiness as a child. It wasn't that she had a bad childhood, her parents were well off. Her mother was a prominent fashion designer and her father was an accountant for a large shipping company.

Her older siblings always seemed to be the ones in the spotlight. She was five years younger than her sister and eight years younger than her brother. Her brother was a great athlete and was also good at school. Her sister while slightly bossy but had their mother's eye for fashion and was already learning how to sew by the time her sister was born.

Since her parents worked and both her siblings were in school by the time she was born she was often left in the care of her grandparents. They were kindly and treated her well. They both appeared to dote on her and everything seemed great. That was until she turned four and her grandfather started doing things to her. She did not understand what was happening, only that she always felt gross and ashamed afterwards.

No matter how much she washed herself afterwards the feeling lingered and there was always a strange soreness to her body that would last for days. It made her tired and fed-up at everything. All she wanted to do at these times was stay in her room and make a small nest on her bed out of her stuffed animals.

Many times, it happened right in the living room as the girl would sit and read or watch television. She loathed these times as her grandmother would be in the kitchen either cleaning or prepping things for dinner. The angle of the dark brown and somewhat old couch was perfect to accommodate this as from every point of entry there was no way to see the whole front of the couch directly.

It did not help that the living room though of a good size had a lot of furniture in it. The couch itself had both a large armchair and a smaller loveseat adjacent to it. The two pieces of furniture unlike the couch though were an off-white colour that had yellowed slightly with age.

The large wooden coffee table took up most of the floor space and left very little room for people to walk in between. The television was one of the earlier and rather bulky flat screens that had a built-in base the same size as an actual stand.

Against all the free wall space were bookshelves and china cabinets filled with knick-knacks and her grandfathers rather large collection of sports memorabilia. It was these things that cluttered up the space the most and made it hard to move around.

Even after the abuse had been happening for awhile the girl knew there was nothing she could do about it. And she absolutely hated her weak self for it.

Telling someone was not an option in her eyes. She could see how devoted her grandmother was to him, her mother wasn't home much around this time as she was busy traveling after launching several new fashion lines. This would make her mother busy for the next three years. Her grandfather was her father's dad and considering he deeply respected his father she knew he wasn't an option either.

Her father often spoke of her grandfather as if he were one of the best people his father knew.

Her grandfather had fought in two wars and although he was not decorated, he had stayed in the army a good year after everyone who had been drafted had already moved on. After this he kept the same job for years, slowly climbing the corporate ladder and eventually retiring from being a regional manager of a mid-sized grocery store chain.

As far as the girl knew her sibling had not suffered as she was and they also appeared to have fairly normal relationships with him.

The girl was highly irritated by this as it meant she really was alone in her suffering. She did not feel bad about admitting that she had somewhat hoped the same thing may be happening to one of her siblings because then they would be in agony right along side her. For some reason the idea of this had given her some sick sense of satisfaction that she could not help but revel in.

It also did not help that neither of her siblings had shown much interest in her. The most they had done for her is let her read the books in their rooms as well as their textbooks from school.

She preferred her brothers' room to her sisters as the formers was very garishly decorated.

The older sister's room was painted a shade of almost baby pink. Her vanity was lit with a string of fairy lights and the frame of the mirror itself was a powder blue colour. Stuck in the frame were photographs her sister had taken or magazine clippings. The dresser was large and intimidatingly dark in colour compared to everything else. The double sized bed was adorned with either a flowery or butterfly patterned comforter. The older girl even still had stuffed animals at the top of her bed.

The walls themselves were all adorned with posters of the latest pop idols as well as numerous sewing patterns. Her small closet was bursting not just with her own clothes but also small sewing projects she was working on.

Her brothers' room was a dark shade of sea green. The walls were covered in sports posters and several baseball caps from games he had been to with their father. He was the only one of the three siblings to have a television in their room. It was tiny and had a grey game console hooked up to it with two grey controllers attached to it.

Sometimes her brother would allow his sisters to play the games with him but as they got older this became less frequent.

The girl's room was a light shade of lavender of her mothers choosing. There were no pictures or paintings on her walls as of yet. Her furniture was all from when she was first born. A white bedframe, dresser and end table. The few toys she did have were in the large cedar toy box which was a sickly colour of bright magenta.

All of this meant she was alone in her suffering and she would just have to put up with it or else figure out something drastic.

So, she kept it to herself and was glad when school started. Unfortunately, she found it dull and boring there was never any real challenge. The lessons were so easy she never bothered with them beyond making sure she had a passing grade. She also found out quickly that her school time was only a slight buffer to what had been happening.

Her parents work hours were getting longer and longer and her siblings were often off at friend's places. She had been unable to make friends with anyone as her classmates thought her odd. She had never really shown any interest in anything even remotely girly aside from the one time she had taken her mom's lipstick and painted her face with it to see what she would look like with red skin.

Her father had never really let her play sports with him and her brother as he was a little old fashioned about sports only being a boy thing.

One thing she did like though were insects and arachnids. She would often spend a lot of time capturing them; she would then carefully dissect them as she was curious about how they worked. She also liked the sound of them popping between her fingers when she squished them.

So, once she was found doing this by one of her classmates, she was labeled a weirdo and they would not go near her.

The girl pondered at her classmate's reaction to her preferences as she found many of their normal behaviours odd. The boys chasing the girls around the yard, the girl giggling as they gossiped to each other.

All of it just struck her as nauseating and she did everything she could to avoid both scenarios. This was probably because she could not keep up with all the weird rumours the girls had going around and she did not like it when the boys caught her. She had surmised that this had to do with the fact that these interactions often reminded her of how her grandfather treated her.

She cursed the fact that unlike her classmates she already knew about this sort of stuff. Her knowing about this was her own fault though due to the only other pleasure she had.

The only other thing the girl liked to do was read. Her parents didn't know it but she had read every book in their house that she could get her hands on by the age of five. Since no one wanted to play with her the only option she had was to read both at home and at school, she even tried to read what she could at her grandparents.

Often times though this back fired on her, this was because sometimes when she would go to change out her book her grandfather would either try to ambush her, or he would be seated on the couch in a more advantageous position. Due to this she gave up reading the books there unless she had someone else with her when she went to change them out.

By the time she was seven she had read all the books in her school library that she was allowed to. There were some there that the librarian would not allow her to read because they were inappropriate for her age.

Her solution for this was to get her grandparents to take her to the public library where she would sneak in books, she knew she would not normally be allowed to check out. This was how she learned that what her grandfather was doing to her was both wrong and very dangerous.

At first, she just felt extremely worried about what might happen if her grandfather went to the final step with things. So far, she had been able to avoid this but she knew it could happen and was doing everything to avoid it.

Her way of rebelling against what was happening to her was to make herself as undesirable as possible. She insisted on cutting her hair short and wore the baggiest clothes possible; she also didn't shower for days at a time if she could avoid it. She hated her body and had started to cut her legs when she turned eight. She knew the scars would not be visible that way. She had also started to burn things whenever she could.

Her mother smoked so she would sometimes steal lighters and matches from her. If one of her siblings was left in charge of her they were not nearly as responsible as her grandparents when watching her.

They left her roam free in the ravine behind their house; she absolutely loved these periods of freedom. These were the times when she would set fire to things. At first it started small with just piles of dead twigs and leaves where she would often throw in insects to watch them catch fire.

It gave her a small thrill whenever she could see one of them trying to scurry away in panic only to realize they were doomed. It was especially satisfying when the ones that could fly would try to get away and would get caught by a sudden tongue of flame.

Watching them burn in the fire gave her an idea. As from her normal vantage point all she could usually see was the creatures either shriving or bubbling up as they died.

Now she would sometimes take the insects and spear them on a small twig. The girl would then place the twig into the ground and slowly burn the insect alive.

She experimented, starting from different points on different insects each time. The girl found it disappointing when she could not devise a way to burn smaller insects this way; such as ants or millipedes. Though the worst one she found was slugs and snails as they smelt horrible when being burned. It made her vaguely wonder how people could eat escargot.

Eventually she found an old shack in the ravine. After watching it for a while and planning carefully she knew she was going to set fire to it. Not just how to, but that it was going to happen.

She went there on a Saturday morning. She had planned it to coincide with her parent's date weekend and her grandparents' vacation. An hour after her parents had left her brother shooed her out of the house as his girlfriend was coming over.

He told her she could come back in for food and the bathroom but that was it till dusk. Her sister was off at a friend's house as usual.

This had now become a regular thing ever since the girl had accidently walked into him and his girlfriend being frisky on the living room couch. She had wolf whistled at them as she walked from the hallway and into the kitchen.

Needless to say, her brother and his girlfriend were not impressed by her reaction to catching them in the middle of things. After threatening to tell their parents though her brother had agreed to allow her to go outside until dark as much as she liked whenever he was watching her. In exchange he could have his girlfriend over whenever he wanted and she would keep her mouth shut.

She headed outside and down to the ravine where she could get things started.

So, there she was with her tools; a lighter, some matches, and a can of highly flammable body spray. She made a larger pile of sticks and leaves then usual inside the shed itself. She then sprayed it down with the body spray. After that she waited for a little bit, she knew the fumes were flammable and did not want to be caught in the blaze.

After sufficient time had passed she went back in and nestled the can in the middle of the pile. She then lit the base of the logs and sticks and ran out swiftly just in case it caught fire quickly. She sat about ten feet away and waited with her knees drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around them.

It did not take long for the whole pile of logs and twigs to be engulfed in flames. She then heard a curious whistling noise, she soon realized it was the can of body spray. The fire had gotten hot enough to cause a weak point in the can to open up and what was left of the spray to escape. About ten seconds after the whistling stopped there was a deafening boom. The can had exploded causing part of the fire to collapse slightly.

The shack itself took a while to catch fire completely. Once it did though it looked spectacular. The flames roared five feet over the roof and two of the walls gave way at the same moment, crashing to the ground in a pile of smoldering rubble.

Shortly after that the wind suddenly shifted blowing the smoke and soot towards her. She cursed under her breath as she coughed harshly at suddenly breathing in a large amount of smoke. She switched sides and moved a little farther away as the building finished burning.

She had hidden two buckets near the site several weeks ago just for this event. She now fetched them and put out the fire with water from a nearby stream. This was the other reason she knew she was going to do this, cause she could prevent it from spreading.

After putting it out completely she looked up and realized to her dismay that it was already dusk. She cursed in irritation and swiftly ran back to her house. She hoped to god that her brother was to occupied with his girlfriend down in his basement bedroom to be on the main floor. Her luck panned out, he was nowhere to be seen when she got to the back door.

Slipping in quietly, she went up to the bathroom and began cleaning herself off. She was covered in soot and dirt. As she did this she knew she could not return to the woods after this. There was too much of a risk getting caught near the site any time soon after what she had just done. Not many people frequented the ravine, but the few who did came often enough to notice what had happened.

No one in her family suspected a thing. She had been very careful about removing the dirt from herself and her clothes as well as her shoes.

When her brother asked her why she hosed down her shoes and threw them in the washer she lied and said she had stepped in dog shit.

By this age she was already doing her own laundry. This was because she always had to change after getting back from her grandparents. She could never stand to stay in clothes he had touched.

It was on her tenth birthday that everything changed for her. She was wearing a luridly pink shirt her grandmother had bought. It was a tank top and showed off parts of her body she was extremely uncomfortable with.

She had begun to hate her body even more as it developed against her will. She knew why she was developing early. The books she had covertly checked out of the library told her that it was her grandfather's fault.

It disgusted her and she wondered if there was some way for her to halt the process. She wanted to stop its progress, as she knew the more she developed the more likely her grandfather was to take things to far.

She had also begun to fantasize about killing him. Not just to escape the abuse, but she wanted to outright murder him in cold blood. She had thought of all the ways to do it. Part of her had also thought about killing her other family members for never noticing what was going on.

At this point they should have noticed she thought, after all she had shown all the textbook signs for years now. Unfortunately, her parents had no real interest in psychology and only really knew how to recognize physical abuse.

She would often curse them for their ignorance. The weird thing though was that even though she wanted to kill them it did not disturb her, in fact the thought amused her slightly.

She wondered what sounds they would make as they died, would they pop just like all those insects she had killed. The thought so amused her sometimes that she would burst out in hysterical laughter and would get weird looks from those around her.

At first, she could not control the laughter but after a while only a slight smile came to her lips. These were the only times she smiled she could not be bothered to try anymore. It was at this point that her grandmother seemed to notice something was happening but she was also in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. This meant that both the girl and her grandmother were unsure whether anyone would take the older woman seriously.

This meant that the girl continued to suffer in silence, as her grandmother was becoming less and less able to help her. The girl did not resent this though, in fact she found it fascinating. Even though her grandmother was suffering the girl was surprised by how far her ever ailing grandparent was willing to go to protect her. Though the girl knew she was unable to feel the same emotion towards the older woman she felt oddly proud of her. For now she was unable to empathise but she still understood how powerful this emotion was.

They had gone into the bank so her grandparents could pay some bills. She sat in one of the chairs by the window and pulled out a book from her bag she was carrying.

She had begged and pleaded with her mother that she was old enough for the book. The book was "It" by Stephen King. Her mother had finally conceded after months of negotiations.

All her mother said to her as she patted her on the head and handed her the book was "don't let your father see it." She reveled in her prize as she sat at her grandparents house that morning.

After her grandmother had insisted she wear the shirt when they went out that afternoon she felt horribly exposed. Especially when her grandfather looked at her, every time he glanced her way she felt her skin crawl.

The bank itself was rather large and the inside was a pristine white. The outside was adorned with fake roman columns and a large golden clock hung over the entrance. The bold sized golden letters just above it spelled out Gotham City Bank.

On the inside to the girls right was a long row of ATMs which were gold and red in colour. The thin carpet that ran in front of them was black and looked freshly vacuumed.

Every teller window was manned by a well-dressed man or woman ranging in age every age, skin tone and hair style.

Her grandparents were quite a ways back in the lineup for the teller windows and the rest of the bank was equally busy. All over there were people dressed in suits darting around the bank floor. There were also several small groups of people standing around chatting with one another either happily or seriously.

Indeed, there was a small group of them standing in front of her talking to one another rather boisterously. It sounded as though one of them had closed a house sale without telling the buyer about a key detail.

"I thought you told them about that," a man in a black suit with tightknit curly black hair stated as he looked over at another man curiously.

"Well, I told him the result. What I failed to mention was how it got there," the other man who was wearing a dark blue suit with no jacket answered sheepishly.

"What's that supposed to mean," the shortest man in the group asked. He was quite portly and almost bald with only a small ring of black and loosely curly hair on his head.

"I told him what happened I didn't explain how it happened," he expanded as he fiddled nervously with his burnt orange coloured tie.

"How'd ya pull that off?" The fourth man asked, he was easily the tallest of the group and he was skinny as a twig. His lanky frame was adorned in a greyish brown business suite.

"Umm, you see, I sort a told them that they passed away in the house. I never explained how," the man answered as he swept back his blond and impeccably kept hair.

"Ohh, impressive, how'd you mange it?" the bald man asked eagerly as he leaned in closer.

"Well you see I," he began to explain but then stopped short as his face went very pale.

At this point the girl did not notice as she had long ago tuned out of the conversation and gone back to her book.

Since her back was to the window and her head was buried in her book, she didn't notice till they had entered the building and began firing into the air.

She looked up sharply just as He walked in. She had never seen anyone like him before. It wasn't his body or even the gun that he carried in that caught her eye, it was his face. It was garishly painted, like a clown, only it looked like it was done by someone who only had the vaguest idea of what a clown was supposed to look like.

His face was a sickly white colour except for his mouth which was bright red and he also had large black circles around his eyes. The paint was sloppy and uneven and his mouth looked as though it was affixed in a permanent smile. His hair was also neon green and looked almost fake. Then he looked up and laughed, not just laughed but cackled maniacally as he fired his gun off into the ceiling and twirled on the spot.

At the sound of his laughter she felt a chill run down her spine but it wasn't at all unpleasant. On the contrary it was a sensation unlike anything she had ever felt before. She looked down at her book again as he began to speak.

"Well boys, looks like we got ourselves a hostage situation, perfect," he spoke the first part of the sentence in a rather high pitched voice, then suddenly growled out the last word. He snickered quickly before directing his men.

Something she had noticed as the men moved around and hustled the hostages off elsewhere was that no one seemed to notice her. Maybe it was because she had not acted like the others, moving rashly and getting themselves seen. Instead she remained silent and still as she continued to read her book.

It had just switched to a section where they're kids and it was reaching a good part.

After making sure his men had gone to do their jobs he turned around and finally noticed her sitting there. "Well, well, looks like we missed one," he mumbled under his breath in an annoyed tone as he walked over to her.

The Man walked over to the girl and noticed her overly shaggy appearance. Though her shirt was obviously new the rest of her ensemble was decidedly weather worn.

Her baggy jeans had many patched holes with horribly contrasting colours. Her mismatched socks were both two large and her shoes were falling apart they were also a garish shade of yellow.

Even her hair was weirdly off; the entire thing was lopsided. It almost looked as though she had cut it herself. There was even a bright red streak in the front of her hair that looked as though it was applied very recently.

It made her look both unkempt and spunky in an oddly defiant way. It weirdly appealed to the man and he had a somewhat amused smile playing about his mouth as he approached her.

She turned the page of her book as he approached. This seemed to strike a chord with him as he stopped in front of her he said sounding mildly amused, "aren't we the bold one."

She shrugged her shoulders and continued to read on. He then pointed his gun directly at her forehead. "You know it's not polite to ignore someone who's talking to you," he growled at her. The man wondered at the audacity of this small child whose attitude perfectly matched her mismatched attire. Even though the man was slightly irritated at her lack of fear her also felt somewhat intrigued by her actions.

She picked up her bookmark off her lap then closed the book as she set it on her lap. She then stared up at him intently and waited. He stood up put his hand over his eyes and directed his gun at the ceiling and then began to laugh hysterically. He walked away from her a little and stared through one of the cashier stands for a moment.

He turned around looked at her and smiled widely somehow revealing all of his teeth. "You know for someone staring death in the face you are remarkably calm," he stated in that high-pitched tone.

"If you were going to kill me you would have done it already," she told him in a rather matter of fact way.

"Is that so," he mused more to himself then to her as he brought his hand up to his chin and stared at the ceiling.

"Yep," she said as she opened her book again.

He walked over to her, stopped about three feet in front of her and stared down at her. "You're not the least bit scared of me, are you?" he questioned sounding slightly intrigued.

She glanced up at him before responding, "there are things in this world scarier than you." The girl had an extremely grim look on her face at saying this to the Man.

He looked at her with slight alarm. "It's a little odd for someone your age to be saying that," he stated sounding slightly thrown off by the statement she had made.

The girl shrugged slightly at this with a forced smile on her face. "I can't help it if it's true," she pointed out in a wary tone.

"But what could you possibly," the man began incredulously but was cut short by loud voices outside a nearby doorway.

Just then two of his men burst into the room carrying a security guard. They were both wearing ski mask with bright green smiles and blue eyes painted on them. They threw the security guard on the ground before looking up at their boss.

"We caught him calling the police. What should we do with him Boss?" The taller of the two asked as he stood to his full height. The thug then kicked the security guard as he tried to get up from the floor.

The other accomplice who was extremely broad pulled out his gun threateningly and waved it in the winded guards face.

Their boss glanced over his shoulder moved his gun around to face the guard then shot him quickly in the head. The sound was quick and not as loud as she thought it would be.

The thug closest to the guard had to jump back at the Boss suddenly discharging his weapon. He narrowly missed getting shot in the foot and stood well back from things after that.

The other thug also jumped back but did not retreat nearly as far as the other man.

"Now get back to work, before I shoot you to," he said quickly then laughed slightly as though the thought amused him. From what the two thugs knew of their Boss killing them just for the hell of it probably would appeal to him in some strange way.

The two thugs escaped the room quickly leaving the guards body lying there as blood slowly pooled around it.

She shut her book then got up quickly and walked over to it. She kneeled down in front of him examining the body curiously. "That was quick," she said with interest.

The Boss as the thugs had called him walked over to her and stared down at her with interest. "You're quite the odd one aren't you," it was more of a statement then a question.

"You're one to talk," she retorted as she glanced up at him.

He giggled slightly at her response. "I suppose you're right," he said sounding amused. He seemed highly intrigued by his banter with the young girl.

"Why do you do it?" She asked him with an inquisitive look.

"Do what?" He asked her in response.

"All this," she said gesturing at his outfit, "just to rob a bank,' she expanded as he kneeled down beside her.

"Why do you think I do it?" He asked her sounding genuinely curious.

She glanced away from him and thought for a moment before looking at him again to answer. That's when she noticed his eyes, the irises were an odd shade of green, they looked almost yellow. "Fun, and an interesting sense of humour," she answered him holding back a smile.

He looked rather pleased with her response, in fact he began to rock back and forth on his heels as he cackled. "Well it seems you understand me better than anyone I've ever met," he said giving her another one of those eerily wide smiles.

She turned rather red at the Man's obvious flattery of her. She wondered what she could say in reply as she had not been expecting the sudden compliment.

"You know, I like you kiddo," he told her still smiling widely. "Though I have a question for you now," he stated as he stood up and moved away from the body. The blood had begun to move very close to their shoes.

She stood up to and walked over to him before asking, "which is?" She did not know why but she wanted to be as close to this man as possible and stopped just short of running into him.

He turned to look at her before saying, "about what you said before, about me not being the scariest thing in this world, what did you mean by it?'

She knew she had to choose her words carefully but she also did not understand why she felt compelled to tell this man who had just killed someone in front of her as though it were nothing about what was happening to her.

"There is something scarier in my life then you, something that even after you're gone I will have to deal with for longer than I can bear," she began as she rubbed her arms as though trying to ward off a chill. "And it will only get worse, it always gets worse after something bad happens." She felt the shame course through her as she spoke, her voice getting more high pitched as she held back the urge to scream. "And there's nothing I can do about it. I don't have the strength or the means," her talk was cut short as he bent down so his face was level with hers.

"What if I gave you the means?" He asked her with a wide smile. "Or rather what if I became your means?" He continued as he looked her directly in the eyes.

"You would do that?" She asked him sounding surprised. The girl wondered at the Mans motivation to help her out of nowhere but also felt highly thrilled at the offer.

She wondered what would come of this and how far this man was willing to go for her.

"Why not?" He said as he straightened himself into an upright position again. "I mean after all, this bank robbery thing has been all rather dull aside from my little chat with you," he stated as he walked away from her slightly. "Besides it sounds as if this something, or should I say someone could do with a little more than what I did to that guard over there," he continued as he turned around to face her again. "Wouldn't you agree, my dear," He said as he opened his suit jacket to reveal a pistol, several small knives and a walkie-talkie.

She felt a slight thrill run through her at the site of the weapons. It was something beyond what she had felt at burning things and she wondered at her ever-growing odd list of preferences.

She did not even think before nodding in agreement. "Well then let's get to it shall we. All I need is a name," he said sounding more excited by the minute.

She told him her grandfather's name and that she did not want her grandmother to see this. "She has Alzheimer's and she is the only one that doesn't deserve this," she explained in a somewhat pleading voice.

To her relief the Boss agreed and then spoke his directions into the walkie talkie.

Her grandmother was getting worse by the month now and the girl knew that it would be to much for her family if both her grandparents died. It's not that she cared about their reactions, she just knew her acting skills weren't great enough to match her families. Besides she had other plans after this that she was already devising ways to reach her new goals.

As he led her into an empty room with a single chair and a table in it, he said, "now my dear I will have to tie you to the chair, after all, we don't want your grandfather to suspect till the last moment, now do we." He said this all with a thrilled smile as he led her to the chair.

"What do I need to do?" She asked him sounding curious.

"I am going to tie you to the chair, don't worry it shouldn't hurt, I think," the man informed her in a pondering kind of way.

"I'll be fine," she reassured him in a firm tone as though she was trying to convince herself as well.

He tied her loosely but it looked convincing. "Now it's up to you how I conduct this," He stated as he kneeled in front of her just having finished tying her feet. "How do we do this my dear?" he asked her sounding as though it really did interest him.

She thought about it for only a moment before answering, "make it sound like I told you against my will, as though you coerced it out of me and you're doing this as a twisted form of entertainment for yourself." The girl had a very contemplative look on her face as she said this to the Boss.

He looked up at the ceiling while laughing. "You really do crack me up kiddo," he said as he looked at her with another one of those wide smiles.

The girl smiled a little at this and felt herself turning red again. "You asked," she blurted out sounding embarrassed.

The Boss was a little thrown off by the girl's response to his admittance. "Of course, I asked, how else would I know otherwise. I'm not psychic," the man retorted as his voice sounded increasingly angry.

The girl felt more than a little startled by the Boss's reaction and took a moment to answer. "I-I just, I'm sorry," the girl responded sounding highly upset but had a weirdly cute look of hesitation on her face.

The Boss felt uncomfortably off put by the girl's apology. He had not expected it from the bold child and it threw him off greatly.

"Never mind, let's just get back to things shall we," the Boss redirected as he opened up his jacket to grab his walkie talkie.

The girl nodded solemnly and then slouched slightly in the chair.

This is when she looked around the oddly empty room. From what the girl could surmise this had been a small meeting room. There were several inspirational posters that adorned the four beige walls. There was also a fair-sized potted plant over by the solitary window that was south facing but entirely frosted.

He went and stood by the door then said into his walkie-talkie, "bring him in."

She looked him over more thoroughly now that he was directly in front of her. His suit was dark purple, the dress shirt under it was bright yellow and his tie was the same shade of neon green as his hair. He wore white gloves and the pistol he was holding in his left hand was silver. Even the man's shoes and socks were purple but she noticed one sock had a patch sown on that was bright green and a completely different texture from the rest of the sock.

A good two minutes passed in silence then the door opened and her grandfather was roughly shoved into the room. He tripped almost falling flat on his face, he caught himself at the last second though.

The girl looked down at her grandfathers slightly dishevelled appearance.

His light brown leather jacket was askew and the light grey shirt under it had a button undone revealing her grandfather white undershirt. One of the mans reddish brown leather loafers was half off his foot and his glasses fell out of his pocket and clattered to the greyish wood floor.

As he struggled to his feet he looked up and noticed her tied to the chair. "Thank goodness you're alright," he said wheezily as he got up almost to a standing position. It was at this precise moment that The Boss made his move; he leapt forward in one fluid movement bringing the pistol around and whipping her grandfather in the temple with it.

He crumpled almost instantly grabbing at the slight wound the weapon had made which was already trickling blood. The man then held the gun to her grandfather's head and yelled, "Surprise," and then began to cackle maniacally.

Her grandfather looked up in confusion at first, then his expression changed to horror at the site of this man. "Wha, what are you going to do to us?" He asked shakily as he kneeled on the floor.

Her grandfather looked as though he wanted to run as far away as he could. The sight of her grandfather's terror filled expression filled the girl with glee. She could not believe she was seeing this, it all seemed to good to be true.

The man laughed again before bending over to look her grandfather right in the eye. "Oh it's not a question of what I'm going to do, but what you've done to her," he answered as the last few words came out in a low growl.

Her grandfather looked genuinely confused as he stammered, 'I-I d-don't know what you mean."

The boss whacked the old man in the chin this time, causing him to fall backwards onto the floor. As he laid there dazedly looking up at the ceiling the man placed one knee on his chest and pointed the gun at his forehead. "You know exactly what I mean," he stated sounding serious for the first time as he deliberately put all his weight on the knee resting on her grandfather's chest.

Her grandfather looked greatly terrified. "I really don't know what you're talking about," he answered as his words came out in a high-pitched wheeze.

The man then drew a knife from his pocket and rested it upon her grandfather's cheek. "Oh, but you do old man," he stated as he smiled wickedly at him. "Your granddaughter over there told me quite a bit not too long ago. About what you did to her. It took some persuading, but I got the story out in the end," he explained as though what he had done to hear her story was nothing important.

"Y-you're lying," her grandfather retorted shakily. "There's not a scratch on her," he continued as he glanced over at her. She made sure to look away from him as he did this in order to hide her look of interest.

She couldn't help but be fascinated by what she was seeing. The blood oozing from the wounds, the bruises already forming on her grandfather's face, the dull sound the pistol had made as it made contact with his skull. All of it intrigued her, she didn't want to admit it yet but she wanted to see more.

"Oh, there's more than one way to get what you want out of a person," the man said as he looked up at her, she pretended to look away in shame at this point. "But then you would already know all about that, wouldn't you," He growled sounding angry as he looked back at the man with a feral expression.

"How dare you," her grandfather began, but his sentence was cut short by the man slicing open his cheek with one swift movement. Her grandfather yelped in surprise and pain at the sudden and very deep wound. The Boss's knives were so well sharpened he had almost pierced right through her grandfathers cheek.

"How dare I!" The boss stated sounding angry as he stabbed the knife into the floor just millimeters from her grandfather's head. He then stepped off his chest and pulled him up by his shirt till they were almost nose to nose. "Oh no my dear sir, how dare you," he spat at her grandfather before shoving the older man's head into the floor.

He quickly took another knife out of one of the holders on his jacket. "Now listen to me, and listen well cause I don't like to repeat myself," he said quickly sounding angrier by the minute. "You are going to confess to everything, and if you don't, every ten seconds I will slice you, got it," he explained as he tossed the old man across the room.

Her grandfather moved his arms up to protect himself as he stammered sounding terrified, "I-I really d-don't know what you w-want." He tried to shuffle away from the man but The Boss lunged at him, swinging the knife wildly and laughing like a madman.

Her grandfather tried to get away from him but every time he would let him get slightly ahead then he would pounce again making the slices ever deeper.

She watched in fascination whenever she could get away with it. If she knew her grandfather was about to look her way she would turn her head away and pretend to flinch at the sound of the blows and her grandfather's pleading. The girl wished there was a way to record this as she wished she could rewatch it to see what she had missed.

Whenever The Boss glanced at her he could see that she could hardly contain her fascination with what he was doing. This amused him immensely and made him laugh even harder. It wasn't that he cared about the fact that she didn't care about her grandfather's suffering. He was just happy that he was giving her a good show that was until.

Her grandfather collapsed, holding the table beside her. He reached out towards her and mumbled desperately, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He looked truly desperate and weak, it sickened the girl and made her skin crawl. The girl could not believe she had let such a weak creature take advantage if her like this.

It was also the first time she witnessed raw violence first hand, and she knew she could not get enough of it.

Just then The Boss wrapped his arm around her grandfather's throat and hoisted him up. "Ah, ah, ah, we can't have that," He said as he slowly tightened his grip around the old man's neck. "We can't have the actors addressing the audience, this isn't some Deadpool comic after all," He said sounding slightly annoyed, he then slammed her grandfather's head off the table. As the old man crumpled to the floor The Boss twirled around laughed and drew out his pistol once more.

He dragged her grandfather over to her then grabbed him by the hair forcing his head up so he would look at her. "Now you know what the best part is about this old chap?" The boss asked the old man as he blurrily stared up at his granddaughter. She was finally looking at him, really looking at him but her face was expressionless.

"She was in on it that whole time," he stated loudly as he began to chuckle. "And you never suspected a thing." He continued gleefully. He gripped her grandfather's hair tighter and drew his head up more. "That's right, she wanted this to happen to you," he growled scathingly. "and now the question is my dear," The Boss said looking up as he put his pistol to her grandfather's temple. "Has he had enough? Does he deserve to live?" He asked her with a smile, sounding excited.

She looked at her grandfather blankly as his expression pleaded with her. "No," was all she said, then the trigger was pulled. Again, the sound was not as loud as she expected it to be.

The bullet went straight through his head and embedded itself in the wall. She watched as the light went out in her grandfather's eyes and his head fell to the floor oozing blood.

The Boss let her grandfathers body fall to the floor in front of her with a dull thud. The man had a rather shrewd expression on his face as he stared down at the now lifeless body.

"That's one monster down, now it's time for this one to head out," the Boss stated in a somewhat satisfied tone as he looked up at the girl.

"What's your name?" The girl inquired in a highly interested manner.

Not even five seconds after she asked this the Boss's walkie-talkie seemed to explode with noise. It sounded as though the cops had finally arrived.

"Well here come the rest of the actors it seems," The boss said as he straightened up a little. He then moved forward and reached around her. She thought at first that he was going to untie her but the next second she felt all the ropes tighten at once.

He moved back and just as their heads were side by side he whispered, "Well that's that my dear." He then gave her a swift kiss on the cheek. He stood up, whirled around and headed for the door. "Thanks for the laugh kiddo," He said to her in his high-pitched voice as he simultaneously waved at her and opened the door. He then laughed maniacally as he left the room.

Before she knew it she was laughing, she was laughing harder than she had ever laughed in her life. She laughed until she cried and could not breathe. Luckily by the time the police found her the laughter had subsided. She looked down as she heard them approaching and pretended to be sobbing. As they opened the door she heard them talking quickly.

"God damn it, what the hell was that guy," one of them asked as he swung the door open.

"I don't care what he was, Jesus Christ," the other began to answer as he looked through the doorway at the bloody mess at her feet.

Just then a third police officer came over. "What are you two, oh my lord," he exclaimed as he saw what was in the room.

The second officer who had talked yelled back to someone out of sight, "hey we need forensics over here."

The girl had been to preoccupied before this to notice the state the room was in. The table was smeared with blood in several places. There were dots or blood all over the wall and floor. Even the ceiling had not escaped the carnage. The girl also noticed three large blood pools spreading from her grandfather. There was the obvious one from his head, also accompanied by one in his stomach and another from his left leg.

The blood had spread so far that the girl's shoes were sitting in it. The girl felt immediately disgusted by this and wanted to burn her sneakers.

The third officer to arrive charged into the room. "We need to get her out first, have some discretion Bullock," he said sounding angry as he crossed the room to untie her from the chair.

After being untied she was sent outside after telling them it was her grandfather he had killed. "He, he only w-wanted to protect me," she began in a shaky voice. "H-he said if my grandfather d-didn't entertain him he'd d-do things to me," she explained further her voice becoming more and more unsteady.

"What sort of things?" The officer who untied her from the chair asked sounding concerned.

"I d-don't know," she said as she buried her head in her hands. "I just, I just," she began as she pretended to shake uncontrollably.

"It's alright." He said as he grabbed her shoulder to steady her. "That's enough for now." He continued as he kneeled down to look at her. "You said your grandmother was here too right?" He asked her as she lowered her hands and sniffled. She nodded silently as she continued to cry, she found it very easy to continue crying as the flow had already started.

"Let's go out and find her," he suggested as he stood up once more. She nodded in response and they walked out of the building and into the fading sunlight.

Outside it was still chaos, it appeared as though her grandfather and the security guard were not the only casualties. The girl clearly saw at least five body bags and numerous people on stretchers.

The people that had not been hurt were huddled together over to the far left of the bank and were surrounded by police officers who were still taking statements.

It was over this way that the girl headed with the officer just behind her. The girl though did not want to keep walking, she wanted to stay were she was and watch the drama unfold.

The thugs were still being put into the many police cars surrounding the bank. Though to the girl's disappointment it appeared as though that man had already been taken away.

Due to realizing this displeasing fact the girl swiftly walked over to the small group of survivors.

The instant she saw her grandmother she called out to her, "grandma, grandma." She ran towards the older woman who was looking around wildly at the sound of the girl's voice.

Her grandmother rushed over and embraced the girl who was already almost as tall as she was. "Oh my dear, oh my dear, thank god you're alright," she exclaimed shakily as she hugged her granddaughter tightly.

The girl began to shake and cry as her grandmother hugged her. "Grandma I'm sorry, I-I'm so s-sorry, he in front of m-me," she began her voice beginning to shake. "Grandpa is, grandpa is," Before she could continue her story though her grandmother held her closer

"I'm sorry Harleen, I'm so sorry," she said before she too was reduced to tears.

Harleen barely registered what her grandmother was saying, she had seen him. The patrol car he was in was still there at the scene, and it was right in front of her.

He looked terrible now though, as though someone had beaten the ever-loving shit out of the man.

Harleen felt a hot wave of fury wash over her as she detangled herself from her grandmother. She quickly rearranged her features as she resumed looking at her grandmother. "I'm sorry grandma, there was nothing I could do," she explained in a regretful tone.

"My dear, don't blame yourself. You can't help what monsters do," her grandmother answered Harleen with a sad shake of her head.

At Harleen's grandmother's words Harleen also shook her head though it was in exasperation rather than sadness. "That was no monster. Just a very sick man. I just happened to be the one he caught and decided to toy with," Harleen explained rather well as she wiped her eyes and sniffled a little as she began to fake cry again.

"Oh, Harleen dear," the older woman responded then hugged her granddaughter again.

Harleen had anticipated this and used it to her advantage to sneak another peak. To her delight it paid off, he was even facing in her direction this time.

This was when Harleen noticed the swollen eye socket that was turning darker by the second. Noticing this Harleen realized the man was not wearing makeup and that his skin actually looked like that.

As Harleen patted her grandmother sympathetically on the back she also saw the smeared paint around the mouth and that his hair though ruffled was mostly still sticky upright a little.

Harleen vaguely wondered what he looked like without the garishly painted mouth but then he seemed to notice her through the crowd.

Harleen blinked and squinted at him as he moved his face closer to the window. Harleen looked around a bit to try and see if he was looking at someone else. Once she established that he really was looking at her she gave him a thumbs up and as wide a smile as possible.

The man seemed highly pleased by this as he fell back in a fit of giggles at Harleen's response. When he was finished, he gave her the thumbs up and then appeared to begin yelling at someone in the front seat of the police car.

Harleen felt thrilled at this and now she knew for sure what she had to do to get to where she wanted.

 **Hey guys,**

 **So, I managed to finish the first chapter more quickly then I thought. From here on out though the updates will be every two weeks from now on. Also, if you want sneak peeks or any news about my writing progress please follow me on twitter and Instagram:**

 **rjmeijers90 and Rjmeijers90**

 **I won't ask you to enjoy as this isn't exactly a pleasant read but I do hope that it at least makes you think.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **RJ Meijers**


	2. Chapter 2: Research

**Chapter 2: Research**

The first few weeks after Harleen's grandfather's death were the hardest for the girl. This was due to her not wanting to deal with her family's grief. Unlike them she was not in the least bit sad, in fact she was celebrating.

By the third day Harleen could not contain herself to the point that she was shutting herself in her room regularly. Her parents assumed it had to do with her need to process everything. This could not be farther from the truth though as she was actually trying not to burst out laughing at everyone's grief over such a sick and depraved man's death. Harleen still did not see the point in telling her family what had happened to her at her grandfathers' hands, since it would serve no purpose at this point.

To the rest of Harleen's family he may have been a great man but she was just glad to be rid of him. They had never suspected a thing and for that she knew just how easy it would be to deceive them if she took her time and planned things out.

Now Harleen was truly free, free from her attacker and free in her own mind. The girl never thought that she would meet someone who thought like her. Who knew human life was disposable and how truly dirty humans were. After all it was everywhere in the newspaper, on the television, there was almost constant violence and no one was really doing anything to fully stop it.

Harleen knew she was just as stained as everyone else, not because of what her grandfather had done to her but cause of the sensation she felt when she heard that man laugh. She also knew that the thoughts that had raced through her mind at the site of him weren't something any normal person would have experienced. Anyone else would have been terrified, the girl on the other hand was thrilled by it. Not only had his actions excited the girl, they made him enticing in her eyes.

Harleen wanted to know more about him, to study him, to be with him. She knew it would take time and careful planning though. She had to be careful, no one could know about her plan or her research. Harleen also knew she would have to show her parents the intelligence she had been hiding all along.

In order to pull this off without seeming to uncaring Harleen planned everything out. She knew she would have to take her time and allow her family the time they needed to grieve or they would not put enough effort into her.

There was also the matter of dealing with the police as they were still intent on questioning her. At first Harleen's parents had insisted on coming in with her as she needed a guardian present when being questioned.

They called Harleen in a total of three times but each time she would purposely make herself dissolve into tears when ever they came to the part questioning about how he threatened her. Harleen wanted to make it seem like she was to ashamed to speak openly in front of her parents.

It was at the beginning of the third session that the suggestion Harleen was waiting for came up. It had been almost two months since the incident occurred and her grandfather had already been buried for a month.

"Now I know we can't take her statements without you present but I wanted to bring up an idea. Since she still seems to distressed to speak in front of you," the officer explained as he took his seat.

"What would that be?" Harleen's mother questioned sounding both curious and concerned.

"I was wondering if it would be alright if we could at least hear the one part with you not present. You would just stand outside the door and she could at least tell us what happened, though we won't be able to use it in court. We're trying to get a complete forensic profile and we believe your daughters testimony will help with this," The officer put forward as he looked at the mother, daughter pair rather seriously.

"Well, I don't really see," Harleen's mother began but then stopped short as she noticed her daughter's raised hand.

Harleen slowly lowered her arm then looked down at her lap as she chose her words carefully. "I want to tell them, but I just can't in front of you and dad yet mom," Harleen admitted as she looked up at her mother with tears in her eyes and her lip trembling.

"Oh darling," Harleen's mother responded and then hugged her daughter tightly much to Harleen's discomfort. The woman released her daughter then looked at her while till holding her arms. "You know you don't have to do this right?" Harleen's mother questioned as the girl pretended to tremble in shame.

"I-I know, it's just that," Harleen began as she dissolved into sobs. Once she appeared to regain her composure, she looked back up at the two of them. "Someone like that man needs to be kept behind bars. If my testimony will help at all, I want them to have it," the girl explained rather clearly as she wiped the tears from her eyes and gave her mother a firm look.

Harleen's mother sighed a little but seemed somewhat proud of her daughters resolve. "Alright," she agreed then hugged Harleen again. "Just don't push yourself," the woman instructed as she released the girl and gave her an encouraging smile.

As Harleen's mother stood up the officer reassured her she'd be called back in immediately after.

When Harleen was sure her mother was outside she immediately turned to face the officer but continued to stare at her lap. The girl had been reading up on how children behave in these situations and she was determined to play her part to a tea.

The officer sighed a little as he resumed his seat and pulled a large pad of paper as well as a pen towards himself. "So little lady, what can you tell me?" He asked Harleen politely as he looked towards her with an encouraging expression. The officer always felt terrible having to do this sort of thing but he knew it was necessary if they were going to put this guy away for a long time.

This is when Harleen began to tell the officer her acceptable version of events. Even going so far as to somewhat recite a made-up dialogue between her and that man. The girl ensured it related to what she had told them before about him threatening her.

Upon finishing Harleen had one final thing to inquire about herself. "Umm, before you send my mom in can I make a request?" Harleen asked the officer as she wiped her eyes with a tissue.

"Sure, what might that be?" The officer questioned, sure it must be something easy like writing a letter or maybe hearing about his verdict as soon as it was handed down. These requests were quite common and could usually be carried out soon after things settled down. Though the question the girl was about to ask would certainly throw the officer for a loop.

This was the start of Harleen's journey to find out as much as she could about that man. "It's umm. You see my therapist recommended I come up with different ways to deal with my grief. The thing is though I don't even fully know what went on in that room. I just couldn't maintain eye contact like he wanted me to," she began, she had made it seem like he forced her to watch for the sake of his entertainment. "I just keep replaying it in my head, like if I could have kept looking, maybe he'd, maybe he'd," she tried to explain but once again dissolved into fake tears.

"I'm not sure what you're trying to ask," the officer told Harleen as he reached across the table to offer her more tissues. He appeared both reassuring and a little exasperated as he settled back in his seat with his arms crossed.

Harleen took a few deep breaths then gathered herself up once again. "It's just, I wanted to ask if there was any footage. So, I can actually see what happened that day in full. I think and my therapist agreed it would probably help me deal with my guilt and grief," she stated even though it was a blatant lie.

Harleen was quite glad that she could exploit her own confidentiality agreement like this, after all the cop could not obtain her psychological report without her parents' permission and after this, she planned to make it clear she did not want to come back.

This is where Harleen first revealed her talent to the psychiatrist she was seeing. She also told him about her interest in the human psyche and why people did the things they do. She made it sound as though she wanted to help people with their issues but this was really her continuing with her plans.

"I'm not really so sure about that," the officer answered in a skeptical tone.

"But I just, he could still," Harleen stated incessantly as her voice began to become more high pitched as she tried to appear very distressed.

"Look, I know you're dealing with a lot. But stuff like that isn't for someone your age, believe me," the officer explained in a stern manner as he leaned towards Harleen.

"I appreciate your concern officer," Harleen replied as she wiped her eyes and gave him a small smile. "But if there are tapes, I need to see them. I can't fully deal with all this without seeing them. Besides I'd rather not suffer PTSD or god only knows what else because of this," the girl noticed to her intrigue the officer looked rather uncomfortable at the mention of this.

"Those are some grim topics coming from someone your age," the officer responded in an irritated manner.

"It's true though, this is a textbook example of something that could cause that. I just want to spare myself if I can," Harleen admitted sounding sheepish.

"And how exactly will it spare you?" He questioned Harleen with a confused look on his face.

"It's a good way for me not to keep replaying the trauma in my mind because I'll be able to really see, that, I couldn't, save him," Harleen explained as her eyes began to swim with tears and she pulled in her lips in attempt to hold in her sobs.

The officer slouched back in his chair and sighed in a defeated sort of way. "Do your parents also approve of the idea?" He questioned still sounding very disbelieving.

"Honestly, they weren't even sure if you guys are allowed to do that sort of thing for adults. I thought I should ask though. After all I need to watch my mental health after what I witnessed," Harleen explained as her voice became lower and lower and she mumbled out that last part.

"If you're parents are alright with it, I can find out. Though you would have to come here to watch them," the officer told Harleen with a reluctant expression.

"Okay, thank you officer," Harleen answered politely as she looked at the officer apologetically.

Harleen had anticipated this and as such had been weaving a very elaborate web of lies to get what she wanted.

The conversation between Harleen's mother and the officer was rather short but seemed in favour of her request. Just in case though Harleen planned to start phoning the station every week after one month had passed.

Once they arrived home Harleen told her mother, "Umm, mom, I don't want to go back to the police station for questioning."

"Why is that sweetheart?" Harleen's mother inquired sounding highly concerned at her daughter's sudden change of attitude.

"It's just, I don't think I can talk about it till I've worked out my grief through those tapes," Harleen explained as her voice trembled slightly.

"Well tell ya what kiddo, your dad and I won't make you go back unless you want to," Harleen's mother reassured her with an empathetic smile.

"Thank you for understanding mom," Harleen replied then gave her mother a hug. As she did this Harleen realized she was almost as tall as the middle-aged woman.

Harleen's plan worked perfectly and she was not made to go back until she finally chose to.

Before that though Harleen would have to start phase two of her plans and that was to show off her intelligence.

Harleen accomplished this easily by showing her parents she could solve all the equations in her brother's university math textbook effortlessly. To say her family was shocked was more than a little obvious.

Harleen's brother walked out of the living room at hearing what Harleen had done. As for her sister the girl completely stopped paying attention to the television and was now starring at Harleen incredulously. Both siblings did not know how to take their youngest sibling revealing such a talent so suddenly.

As for Harleen's parents they both just starred down at the two papers Harleen had handed them. One was the math work and the other was an essay about a book involving some kind of dark otherworldly force.

Harleen's mother finally broke the awkward silence with a question, "Why didn't you tell us before?"

"Well you were always so busy so I never knew when to tell you," Harleen admitted in an embarrassed tone. She had practiced for this and hoped that she had managed to turn red like she planned.

"Harleen honey we're sorry," her mother apologized as she reached out to her daughter and drew her into a hug.

Harleen held the hug as long as she could bare as she knew her mother needed it. After she backed away from her mother she stated, "it's alright, I understand you and dad are just trying to support us. And that's exactly what you should be doing. I just decided to wait till I could find an easy way to show you. I figured if I showed you, I could do University level work it would convince you."

Harleen's dad let out a long sigh as he ran his free hand through his short light brown hair. "Well I can tell you this much kiddo. Your mom and I will do everything we can to support you in this," her father reassured the girl as he looked up at her with a slightly proud smile.

"Thanks mom, thanks dad," Harleen replied then hugged them both.

It had been almost four months since Harleen's grandfather had passed away and she wanted to show that this was her motivation for finally revealing her gift to them.

Harleen had begun both a journal and a scrapbook. The first was to document her strategy's and experiments; the second was to keep track of her obsession. No one knew it but she had begun to kill animals for fun.

After witnessing her grandfather's murder first hand Harleen wanted to feel the sensation herself. The sensation that something had died due to her actions, that its suffering was something she could enjoy. She would plan in advance before deciding which animal and how to kill it. She kept detailed notes on each kill. The size and rough weight of the animal, how old she thought it was as well as its gender.

Harleen's tools of choice were several small knives, a shovel, a rain poncho, and a hammer. It was surprisingly easy to shoplift while out with her parents. That's how Harleen procured her first items to use for her experiments. Her notes were neat and meticulous; there was always a scientific look to them.

The first animal Harleen killed was an injured blue jay she found in the forest. The girl could tell it would never fly again as a whole part of its wing was missing. She decided to dissect it after killing it as she was not sure how loud it could be, although she was quite far from any trail.

Once Harleen arrived at her small site which she had picked out weeks before she first killed the bird after getting on some protective gear. She then proceeded to slowly take the bird apart bit by bit.

This took less time then Harleen thought it would though she was glad she had brought the gear as the operation was slightly messier then she thought it would be.

Harleen meticulously planned out each kill so she would sometimes take several months in between. This worked to her advantage though in more ways than one.

The scrapbook Harleen had started began when she was finally able to watch the surveillance tapes. It had taken only three weeks worth of phone calls on her behalf to get what she wanted.

Now Harleen sat in a small room with a single chair and an old television with a built in VHS player. Harleen decided to take her time with the cassettes, after all she did not want to appear to eager. Plus, this would give her plenty of time to document everything as accurately as possible.

Harleen had written his name across two pages in the center of her scrapbook. The shade of purple and green she had used were garish and bright. She had also outlined the pages in red and black as these colours seemed to be quickly becoming her favourite. The red reminded her of her experiments with the animals and she thought black suited how she wanted to look.

Harleen thought his name rather suited him and had laughed hysterically when she first read it. The girl wondered vaguely whether she should think up a name for herself but no ideas had come to her mind as of yet.

Harleen knew she had to put all these things aside for a while though while she threw herself into her studies. She would still go out and kill things sometimes as well as set the occasional fire whenever the urge became too great, but she knew her parents were watching her more closely now as they wanted her to succeed.

Harleen's parents sent her to specialized training courses so she could skip high school and go straight to University. There she met two boys who were just a bit older than her, one would become her first friend the other a constant headache.

The teacher introduced Harleen to her five classmates that shared the large facility with her. Three of them were scheduled to stay at the place for the next six months because their parents lived in other states. Harleen was lucky because this place was only an hour away from the city where she lived.

Two of the girls as well as one of the boys were about four years younger than Harleen. The other two looked to be slightly older than her and she sat in the same row as them. The teacher passed out the material then left the room saying she would be back in a little bit and to save any questions till then. It was a book full of literary tests.

Harleen had just finished reading the first page when the smaller of the two older boys looked over at her.

"Looks like the estrogen in the room just evened out with us ay boys," He said as he leaned on the desk and looked down towards were Harleen was sitting.

Harleen decided to ignore this obvious ploy to offend her. Instead she turned the page of her book and continued reading. Her sister had told her to read every test through before beginning to answer it. It was one of the few pieces of good advice her sister had ever given her the rest had been mostly drivel to her and was mainly about dating.

Instead of reading his own booklet the boy continued with his discriminatory diatribe. It took Harleen all of ten minutes to read the whole booklet through and another ten minutes to answer the questions. She closed her book which seemed to annoy the boy even more then her ignoring him.

"You can't seriously lead us to believe that you're already done that whole thing are you. Why those three back there," He stated as he gestured to the three younger children who were sitting in the middle of the classroom. "Are only half way through by the look of it, and they always finish first," he finished sounding as though he dared Harleen to prove him otherwise.

Harleen stood up looked directly at him and retorted, "maybe if you actually bothered with the work your parents are wasting their money on, rather than sitting their throwing misogynistic insults at every person with different hormones in their body then you, you'd finish in an acceptable amount of time." Before he could do anything other than sit there looking stunned she picked up her booklet and left the room.

Harleen ran into the teacher just outside of the classroom. The teacher was slightly surprised at the site of the girl bringing her booklet with her. "You're not supposed to bring those booklets out of the room," she said as she approached Harleen.

Harleen thought quickly about what had just occurred in the classroom and decided to tell her teacher the truth. "I'm sorry Miss. Williams, but one of the boys in my row was trying to provoke me," the girl explained as she hugged her booklet to her chest and pretended to look upset.

Miss. Williams sighed as she put her right hand up to her forehead. She lowered her hand again and looked at Harleen before asking, "Was it John or Edward?"

"I don't know his name but he's the smaller of the two and was sitting near the wall when you left the room earlier," Harleen answered still sounding upset as she lowered her arms and looked at the floor.

"I'll have a word with him," Miss. Williams said as she held out her right hand for Harleen to hand her the folder. She handed her teacher the folder quickly. "You can go to the library for now until lunch time," She told her sounding tired.

Harleen nodded quickly then began the walk towards the large library housed there. She spent the rest of the morning reading specialized psychology books, most of them were on criminal psychology.

On her way to the cafeteria to get lunch Harleen heard someone mumbling to themselves down one of the side hallways.

"Damn bitch," the voiced muttered as Harleen got closer. "Thinks she's so smart, the queen of literary prose, the teachers new praised princess," he continued as she realized it was the boy from earlier talking and she stopped just short of the hallway so she wouldn't be seen. "Well just like the raven and the writing desk riddle I'll unmask her for the Neanderthal she is," he stated then began to walk towards Harleen.

Harleen remained still against the wall as he approached her. Harleen hoped he wouldn't notice her but unfortunately, he saw her just as he was about to turn down the hallway opposite her. "How long have you been there?" He asked Harleen trying to hide the alarm that was showing on his face.

Harleen decided to avoid the question slightly. "It doesn't matter," she answered quickly as she tried to step around him.

He blocked Harleen then said sounding angry, "it certainly does matter." He was looking madder by the minute. "Now answer my question," he demanded as he practically yelled at her.

Just then the other boy who had been sitting in the same row as them walked out of one of the nearby classrooms. "That's enough Edward, leave her alone," he said in a calm tone as he stopped beside Harleen and stared down at the shorter boy.

Edward gave the other boy a scathing look before turning and quickly walking away.

He sighed and looked over at Harleen. "Sorry about that. Edward is always trying to pick a fight," he explained to her in that same calm tone.

Harleen looked up at him before replying, "Thanks for that." The girl wondered at his motivation in helping but then she also knew some people were just genuinely nice.

He shrugged slightly then turned to face Harleen. "No problem, someone's got to keep that egoist in check," he stated as he glanced down the hallway Edward had gone. "The name's John by the way, John Irons," he told Harleen, extending his hand so she could shake it.

"Harleen Quinzel," she replied as she shook John's hand quickly.

"Well Harleen let's go get some food shall we," John suggested as he began to walk towards the cafeteria.

The two became friends, or at least as close to a friend as Harleen had ever had. They didn't have any mutual interest and John was two years older than her but they managed to get along all the same.

Now that Harleen had experience with other kids she knew not to expose any of her interests to people. This made it very hard for her to find any common ground with people other than in books.

As the days passed at her new school Harleen ensured she was going at least once a week to the police station to watch the surveillance tapes. She had only just finished the second tape showing his and her conversation on the main floor of the bank. Though there was no audio as the cameras in the bank could only record video at this time.

Even so Harleen's notes from the footage were extensive and already spanned a good twelve pages.

Due to Harleen's covert work she had to sneakily dig out the top of her box spring so she could hide her scrapbooks and journals inside it. She was glad she had thought of this as she knew her parents would probably never move from here. So, barring anything catastrophic her stuff would be safe. She was even devising plans for if her bed had to be moved.

To this end Harleen had started an extensive stuffed animal collection. It was mostly made of large teddy bears and an almost human sized dark red unicorn. Many of the bears and other stuffed animals were also either red or black.

Edward did not bother Harleen again for quite some time. It had been almost a month since she had started at the center.

This particular morning, Harleen walked in to find a booklet already on her desk. She looked through it quickly as she was early and no one else appeared to be there yet. It was filled with a number of different puzzle games. She worked the first few out quickly, the second last page was slightly more challenging but still only took her about twenty minutes to complete. She was about to turn to the last page when one of the younger children opened the door.

Harleen quickly put the booklet aside and took out her math set as they were now moving into the mathematical skills tests.

After finishing up the booklet the teacher gave to them Harleen handed it in then sat back down and once again turned to the page she had been about to turn to earlier in the previous booklet. As she read through the last page the question was actually a riddle rather than a puzzle as the rest had been.

As Harleen worked out the answer which did not take her long she came to two possible answers. The first just seemed silly and the other more than a little obscene for a book meant for children's testing. For the first time Harleen brought the booklet up to the desk and showed it to the teacher.

"What's this?" Miss. Williams asked her sounding a little confused.

"It's one of the booklets. It was on my desk this morning when I came in," Harleen explained as she handed the booklet to Miss. Williams. It looked exactly like the other workbooks that had been given to them, right down to the copyright notice.

Miss. Williams looked skeptical as she examined it closely. As she came to the last page she noticed Harleen had written down the words, "O or P." The teacher looked at this notation in confusion then glanced up at her student who was standing beside her and waiting patiently.

Harleen took Miss. Williams's pen then wrote under her note the two answers she had come up with for the riddle. The teacher stared at it for a moment before exclaiming in annoyance, "Oh what the heck is this."

Needless to say, Harleen was more than a little surprised by this. As she stared at her teacher's angry profile Miss. Williams looked over at Edward who was apparently working for once and questioned in an agitated tone, "Edward, is this your doing?" The woman was so stiff she seemed to be affixed to the floor rather than her chair.

Edward looked over at Miss. Williams with a puzzled expression on his face. "Is what my doing?" He inquired sounding genuinely clueless.

Miss. Williams suddenly stood up with a sigh. "Come with me," she said to Edward as she tried to hide her anger.

"But Miss. Williams I'm not done my work yet," Edward informed her with a worried expression.

Miss. Williams was already headed for the door. "Don't make me repeat myself," she stated loudly as she opened the door. The teacher then walked right through without looking back as the door slowly began to close.

Edward got up from his chair looking annoyed as he approached the door the teacher had just walked through. As he passed in front of Harleen he made an obscene hand gesture towards her whilst glaring at her. The teacher was already waiting in the hallway so she did not notice this.

After the door slammed shut Harleen went back to her seat feeling more than a little confused. The girl took the newspaper which she had been reading on the way to class that morning out of her bag and returned to the page she was on before.

There was a small article in there about That Man that Harleen was intending to cut out later for her collection. She was going to need a new scrapbook soon as the one she had was almost full and she was already on her third journal.

John looked over to Harleen as she finished up with the paper. She always read the whole thing and pretended to cut out several articles that could be relevant to her studies just to throw people off. "What was all that about?" John asked her nodding towards the door and sounding more than a little curious.

Harleen folded up the newspaper before looking over at John. "Not too sure myself," the girl answered as she folded her arms on her desk and laid her head down on them.

"Well what was that booklet you handed the teacher," John questioned as he turned around in his chair to face Harleen better.

"Don't know. I found it on my desk when I got here this morning," Harleen explained as she closed her eyes as though she were falling asleep. "It looked just like our other booklets so I decided to work on it. The answer for the last page though seemed a little odd to me though which is why I brought it up to the teacher to ask about it," she continued as she moved back into a normal sitting position. "Looks like it wasn't though," Harleen finished with a small sigh.

John shook his head a little as he glanced at the door again. "That guy's always causing trouble it seems," he said to Harleen sounding a little disappointed.

"Why's he even here?" Harleen asked as she glanced over at John.

"Don't know any more than you do I'm afraid. I don't try to pry into these things," John told Harleen as he reached for his bag.

Harleen shrugged a little as John looked over at her again. "Sorry just thought you may know more since you've been here longer," Harleen explained as she rested her chin in her hand.

John had opened his bag and was rummaging in it. "Nope and I don't care to," he answered as he pulled a banana out of his bag. "Want one?" he asked Harleen as he pulled out two more along with a water bottle full of juice.

"Sure," Harleen said as John handed one to her.

The next day Edward confronted Harleen before anyone else had arrived to the classroom. He was there when she entered the room. As the girl sat down he looked over at her and said, "Well looks like you're not as clever as you appear to be."

Harleen chose to ignore Edward as she pulled a book from her bag. She was rereading IT for the third time. Instead of backing down the boy continued, "You couldn't solve it, could you?" He smirked as he looked over at her. "Little miss knows everything actually had to get the teacher to clarify," he teased in a superior tone. "I on the other hand would have finished that book in no time," he stared up at the ceiling as he said this.

Harleen continued to read which just made Edward angry. The boy's sense of superiority really did get on her nerves sometimes but she knew being indifferent was the best way to deal with these things. After all, showing interest only makes the monster hungrier.

"The silent treatment again I see, or are you just feigning ignorance?" Edward inquired as he turned his body around in his seat to face Harleen. Again, the girl ignored Edward and continued to read on. "Fine, be silent mime girl," he continued as he glared at her slightly.

While Harleen did not know what he meant by this statement she still kept quiet knowing that Edward's ego would get the better of him and he would explain the statement if she showed no interest.

Sure, enough Edward said to Harleen sounding mildly surprised, "surely you know what that statement meant, I mean it's a direct reference to that name of yours." He leaned forward and continued to stare at her.

Part of Harleen was a little curious now but she still chose to ignore him.

"That name of yours, Harleen Quinzel, if you know anything about good comedy you would realize how closely it resembles the word Harlequin," he explained in a matter of fact tone. "And do you know what a Harlequin is?" He asked the girl expectantly as she read on. "It means a clown, a mime, a jester, don't you see your name is nothing more than a joke and your placement here looks that way to," Edward told her in that superior tone.

Just then John opened the door to the classroom and said as he walked in, "then your being here Edward is nothing more than a mistake."

Edward glared angrily over John due to his remark. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean rich boy?" the boy inquired in a challenging voice.

John took his seat next to Harleen before answering, "Well you're always the last to finish your work if you even do it at all."

Edward turned in his seat to face forward and scoffed. "That's because something as easy as this is below me," he explained sounding smug.

"If you think that Edward, why not trying to beat Harleen and myself at the most complex mathematics testing they offer here," John suggested calmly as he leaned back in his chair.

"Hmmm, tempting, but I unlike you don't fall for obvious baiting," Edward retorted as he picked his bag up off the floor.

John merely shrugged at this comment then grabbed his own bag. Harleen was glad John had defused the situation. He seemed to have that effect on Edward, though Harleen suspected it was only due to John being rather tall and broad for his age.

The weeks passed as they slowly worked through the testing until one day; Miss. Williams stood in front on them and announced, "In three week's time the center will be moving to a new location in the city."

The children all looked surprised at this news as it was the first they were hearing about it. "I apologize for the short notice but we only just got the approval last Friday and the director wants everything moved before the cold weather hits," Ms. Williams explained as the kids all looked at her intently. "As such the center will be closed during the moving process," she continued as the kids began to look worried. "Now don't fret, it will only be for two week and for those of you who are staying here due to distance your parents are being contacted today so that you may be able to go home during this time," the teacher explained to them as she sat down at her desk. "Now there will be no work during this time so consider it a bit of a vacation for the lot of you," Ms. Williams finished as she pulled her briefcase up onto the desk.

It had been two days since the announcement of the short closure of the center. Harleen's parents were fine with it and even said she was old enough to be left alone in the house so they weren't too worried.

John was the early one to the class for once. Harleen sat down beside him and pulled out her newspaper as always. "Hey Harleen," he said looking over at her.

"What is it John?" Harleen asked as she glanced over at him.

"I was just wondering, if you want to come over for a visit to my place during the break?" John inquired as Harleen continued to read.

Harleen was a little surprised by the question as she had never been asked over to anyone's house before. John took her silence as skepticism and continued, "I just thought you'd be interested in seeing some of that robotics stuff I was talking about. We could also watch some movies."

Harleen knew John was just trying to be kind and didn't mean anything weird by inviting her over to his house. After all they were too young for any of the stuff that usually went on between males and females.

"Since you live in the city, I'll ask my parents about it and see," Harleen answered just as one of the younger children opened the door.

Harleen had mentioned John to her parents several times before. So, when she asked about going there for a day during the break they first agreed to it on the condition that they meet his parents first and make sure it was okay with them as well.

Harleen told John this and they arranged for both sets of parents to be there to pick them up at the same time just three days before the school was due to close.

"Hello there," John's father said as he approached Harleen and her parents. He waved at them and smiled cheerily as though greeting an old friend.

He shook Harleen's father's hand and nodded towards her mother with a friendly smile. "It's nice to meet you and this young one to," he continued as he also shook the girl's hand very firmly.

Harleen shook his hand quickly but also noticed that her father's profile was becoming more rigid by the second. She wondered about this as John inched over to her and handed her a small piece of paper.

"I hear your daughter is quite the talent, outdoes everyone in the class by the sounds of it," John's father stated in a flattering tone.

Harleen felt herself blushing a little at these words and she threw John an annoyed look behind their parent's backs. He tried and failed to look innocent as he strode a short way away from them.

Harleen went over to John as their parents continued their chat in the front lobby. She unfurled the paper and read it quickly, it had Johns phone number on it. She stopped in front of him as she slipped the paper into her pocket.

"Thought you might need that just in case we can't figure out a date today," John explained as Harleen looked up at him.

"Don't see why we can't. My dad drives me into the city every morning and you live only ten minutes from the center," Harleen stated with a small shrug.

"Eh, you never know right," John said in response as their parents walked over to them.

"Come on Harleen, we're going," her father said as he gestured for her to follow.

Harleen didn't ask her parents about the visit till the day after the center had closed. She figured they'd tell her that weekend when they had more free time.

"So dad, what day am I going to John's?" Harleen inquired as she looked over at him as he sat reading the paper and sipping his coffee.

"About that, I'm afraid works given me a bit tighter of a schedule then I first thought so I won't be able to take you, sorry," he explained then turned the page of the newspaper.

"Can mom drive me then?" Harleen asked hopefully.

"You know how your mother is about driving in the city," he stated simply, Harleen's mother did not like driving in the city if she could avoid it.

"Well what if his parents came to pick me up?" Harleen suggested as she remembered the number John had given her which she had written down in a small address book she had received as an early birthday present from her grandmother who was now staying in an old folks home upstate.

"They seem like pretty busy people, so I don't think that would be an option," he explained as though this ended the discussion.

"I can phone and ask. I'm sure between the four of you we could work something out," Harleen continued as she stood up from the table.

"I'm sorry Harleen, but it's just too much right now," her father began as he took another sip of his coffee

"But you said I could go, you said if you met them," Harleen countered beginning to hear that high-pitched tone in her voice. She couldn't understand why her dad was being so stubborn about this. After all John and his parents were perfectly nice people and while the drive was a bit much they made it almost every day anyway.

"I said it's too much and that's final young lady," he said rather louder than Harleen was used to him speaking.

Harleen left in a huff and was determined to figure out something by herself. When her parents left for work and both her sibling were out of the house on the following Monday she phoned John. She explained to him about her parents' schedules and he said it should be fine. They arranged for the visit to happen on Thursday as that was his father's day off.

So just shortly after nine o'clock Thursday morning Harleen got into the back of a car and was greeted by John and his father in the front seat. She had decided to leave a note as it really did seem as though her parents left really early the last few days.

"Hello there," John's dad said to Harleen as she put her seatbelt on.

"Hi," Harleen answered back quickly as she straightened up.

"I'm sorry to hear that your parents were to busy to bring you themselves," he stated as they began to drive off

"It's alright, they've always worked a lot," Harleen explained as John played with the radio.

John's father sighed a little as he turned the first corner. "Yes, we adults do seem to need to do a lot of that," he stated sounding a little disappointed.

The rest of the drive was spent mostly in silence as John cranked up the music and sang along.

When they arrived at John's house just over an hour later Harleen was very surprised. The house was more of an estate and it looked as though his house was about five times the size of hers.

"You live here?" Harleen asked as she stepped out of the car.

"Yep," was all John said as he headed towards the front door.

"I'll see you kids later," John's dad said as he walked across the lawn towards a large garage instead of towards the house.

"Bye dad," John responded as he gave his dad a quick wave.

"Thanks for the ride," Harleen told the man politely as she waved as well.

"You're welcome," John's dad answered with a warm smile.

Harleen followed quickly behind John up the front steps and into the main foyer.

After an older gentleman in a suit took their jackets and shoes the boy motioned for Harleen to follow him. "You have butlers?" she inquired trying to hide her amazement.

John merely shrugged in response as he led Harleen to the back of the large mansion. "My workshop's this way," he said as he continued through several hallways to the rear of the manor.

The workshop was brighter than Harleen expected and packed with half made things. "Wow, there's a lot more here than I expected," the girl told John as she bent over to examine a large metallic pair of gloves that were missing several digits.

"I'm still working on those," John stated as he walked back over to where Harleen stood.

"What's wrong with them?" Harleen asked as she looked behind her at several small oddly colored cubes in a glass container behind her.

"The joints are still to stiff," John explained picking one up and examining the palm of it.

Harleen went over to the box and reached her hand in to pick up the bright red one. She held it up close to her face but could discern nothing.

John looked up and over at Harleen then said quickly, "careful with those." He set the glove down and joined her next to the container.

Harleen moved it away from her face and looked up at John. "What are they?" She asked as she lowered it from her face.

"They contain highly reactive chemical agents," John explained as he held out his hand to take the block.

"Why would you have something like that?" Harleen questioned sounding slightly alarmed as she handed it back to John.

"I use them in certain energy experiments," John explained as he placed the block back in its original place and put the lid back on the container.

"Energy experiments?" Harleen inquired with a curious look on her face.

"Here I'll show you," John said eagerly as he gestured for Harleen to follow him to another section of the workshop.

John spent the next two hours demonstrating several of his experiments. As Harleen watched him she wondered vaguely about what he would think about her version of experiments.

Harleen's mind was wandering more than a little as she watched one of John's energy rays, as he called them zap a small pile of the chemicals completely out of existence; there wasn't even any ash.

John looked over at Harleen and noticed her unfocused expression. "Sorry if I'm boring you," he stated as he straightened up and walked over to her. The boy had been so focused on his demonstration he had not really been paying attention to his friend.

Harleen shook her head quickly and said, "No I should be apologizing." The girl got off the stool she had been sitting on and glanced up at John. "I should have been paying better attention," she explained feeling a little guilty that she had only really payed attention to the first thirty minutes of his demonstrations.

John waved his hand as though to lessen Harleen's remark. "It's all good, I already know you're not really interested in this stuff," he said with a small sigh he felt bad having spent so much time practically ignoring the girl.

"Sorry," Harleen said as she looked away from John. The girl hoped she sounded convincing as she actually did not feel sorry more just like she could be doing better things with her time.

John shrugged slightly as he headed towards the door. "let's go watch those movies, maybe Hemsworth can bring us some snacks," he said as Harleen moved to follow him.

The room John took Harleen to was large and had a projection television. There was a large wrap around couch surrounding what looked like a sunken couch in the floor which was covered in pillows.

Harleen had never seen anything like it, then she noticed the walls which were lined with DVD's. She had never seen so many movies in her life, not even at the old videos stores which were now beginning to disappear.

"How many movies do you have?" Harleen asked as she moved around the couch to try and figure out how to get onto it.

"Couldn't tell ya, my parents are always buying new ones," John answered as he searched through a shelf on the opposite side of the room.

"How is it organized?" Harleen questioned sounding genuinely curious as she finished walking around the first half of the couch.

"In alphabetical order by title. Also, if it's a series of movies they're lumped together. Sometimes that means we have to reorganize in here," John explained sounding slightly annoyed.

"That sounds both sensible and mildly irritating," Harleen commented as she finished circling the couch.

"It can be, though it makes finding some things a lot easier," John answered as he moved down the row of DVD's leisurely.

Harleen finally just decided to hop the back of the couch to sit down when Hemsworth wheeled in a tray full of food and drinks.

Hemsworth pushed a button as he came in and a table descended from the ceiling from cables and came to rest in the middle of the room. He then set up the food and pushed the cart in front of him as he left the room.

Harleen looked at all the different food on the table and grabbed a bowl of chips. They tasted a lot different than what she was used to but she ate them anyway as John came back over carrying four DVD's.

John put the first DVD in then sat on the opposite side of the couch and grabbed a plate full of vegetables.

Harleen wasn't familiar with the movies but she enjoyed them all the same. John seemed to find them more interesting than she did as he was rather engrossed the whole time and only seemed to come out of his reprieve when the show ended.

With the last one finished John looked over at Harleen and asked, "so what did you think?'

Harleen had just taken a large bite out of a mango and had to wait to finish chewing before answering, "They were good."

"What was your favourite part?" John questioned Harleen then took a sip of his iced water.

"The one part with, what was her name…Black Widow, where she gets interrupted during that interrogation then takes out all those guys at once," Harleen answered as she sat back in her seat.

"Ya that part was pretty good," John agreed as he rubbed his eyes and yawned. "It's probably time you got headed home," the boy said as he moved towards the edge of his seat.

"Ya you're probably right," Harleen stated as she too moved to get up from the overly large couch.

On the way home the two discussed the movies, it finally seemed like they had something in common.

Upon arriving in front of her house the driveway was still empty and Harleen felt a little relieved upon seeing this.

"Umm, thanks for having me over today," Harleen stated as she looked towards John.

"No problem dear," John's father replied with a small nod as he glanced back at her in the rear-view mirror.

"I guess we'll stick with movies," John suggested as he turned around in his seat to look at Harleen.

"Sounds like a good idea," Harleen agreed as she began to take off her seat belt. "And again, thank you for the ride," the girl stated as she peered between John and his father.

"You're quite welcome, and feel free to come over anytime we are able to have you," John's dad told her with an encouraging smile.

"Ya, it would be nice to have someone else to discuss movie points with and plot ideas and such," John put forward in an eager tone.

"Well that's fine by me. I should head in now. I'll see you again John," Harleen responded as she extended her hand towards the door handle.

"Mhmm, hopefully soon," John told her with a slight nod as he watched her open the door.

"Ya, hopefully," Harleen agreed as she exited the vehicle.

Harleen headed towards her home and vaguely wondered if John would invite her over to his house again. She had noticed a lot of movies she had wanted to watch but that her parents would not allow her to because they considered them to mature for her.

Harleen wondered if John was allowed to watch those movies but then thought they would probably not be there if he was not. She had seen, Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile, Fight Club, It, and many others she wanted to watch.

It made Harleen wonder at what age John had been allowed to watch those kinds of movies from. The girl herself was still banned from watching most thriller and horror movies, though she had already read many of the books for them.

Harleen pondered at this as she reached her front door but as she turned the handle, she was unprepared for what would greet her inside.

 **Hey everyone,**

 **Here's chapter 2 as promised. I hope you readers out there find it as entertaining as the last revamp. If you want to know what's going on with the story, I'm posting updates on my work on Twitter and Instagram:**

 **Rjmeijers90 rjmeijers90 and rjmeijers90**

 **Looking forward to the next bit of expanding I got to do. If you have any feedback for me as I am still using this to improve my writing please feel free to leave a review. If you have any questions about what's happening in the chapter or need any kind of clarification feel free to ask. Thank you all for reading and also you time and consideration.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **RJMeijers**


	3. Chapter 3: Getting a Point Across

**Chapter 3: Getting A Point Across**

Once inside Harleen noticed to her surprise her parents' shoes near the front door. They were home a good two hours earlier than usual. This perplexed the girl and she pondered as to why they were their as she sat down to remove her shoes.

Not even five seconds after taking off her shoes Harleen heard her father calling from the living room, "Harleen, get in here." She was surprised to hear the slightly angry tone to her father's voice.

Harleen headed to the living room and saw both her parents seated on the couch together with rather rigid profiles.

"Sit," Harleen's father instructed indicating the small loveseat in the living room.

The room was a good size with ample space to walk around the furniture. Both the sofa and loveseat were from a matching set along with the light-coloured coffee table. The walls were a light beige colour like the rest of the house and this was one of the few rooms with a carpet which was a medium grey colour.

The television sat on a small stand with a cable box and DVD player attached to it. There were even a few family photos adorning the walls.

Harleen took a seat on the loveseat's dark elm coloured cushions. She then looked back over at her parents curiously as she could not think of what this could be about.

"Dear, if you could please" Her dad said as he looked over at his wife with a rather stony gaze.

"Alright," Harleen's mom answered as she squeezed his arm a little with a slightly worried expression. The woman then got up from the couch and left the room while Harleen's father proceeded to talk to her alone.

Once Harleen's mother had gone upstairs her father turned to face her again. "Where have you been young lady?" Her father questioned sounding quite irritated.

"I was at John's," Harleen responded with a confused look on her face as she could not understand her fathers' attitude.

They both heard Harleen's mother overhead as she closed the door to her parent's bedroom.

"And did I say you could go there?" He asked Harleen in a serious manner.

"Ya," Harleen replied as her voice became somewhat worried sounding at her dad's line of questioning.

"And when was this?" He inquired further in an impatient way. His face was becoming more irritated with each subsequent question.

It was at this point that Harleen heard the television go on in her parent's bedroom. She could distinctly hear slightly dramatic music and a muffled announcers voice.

"You said I could go as long as you met his parents," Harleen put forward as she wondered where this was going.

"I also remember telling you afterwards that it was no longer possible," He reminded her in a slightly patronizing tone.

"No you didn't, you said you didn't think it was possible cause you were to busy and you thought they were to busy. But I had John's number so I phoned him to see what could be arranged," Harleen began but then noticed her father's expression stiffen suddenly at the mention of her phoning John.

"When, did he give you, his number?" Harleen's father queried in an agitated manner as he put great emphasize on each word.

Harleen was beginning to realize where this conversation was going and she was planning on fully derailing it to her advantage. "The same day you talked to his parents. He handed it to me when we were standing a little ways away from you guys," she explained in a somewhat exasperated way.

"Did I give you permission to phone him?" Harleen's father asked with an alarmed expression.

Harleen gave her father a look of absurdity at this question. "Since when do I need permission to phone a friend?" She queried back in an incredulous and somewhat hurt tone. As she talked the girl made sure she was gradually talking louder and sounding more agitated.

"Well you are not to phone him again and you are not to go over to his house anymore," Harleen's father informed her in a final sort of way.

"Why not?" Harleen questioned as her voice began to take on that high pithed quality again.

"Because I said so and that's final," Harleen's father answered as though this settled the matter.

"It is certainly not final," Harleen countered as she stood up in anger.

"How dare you young lady, go to your room," Harleen's father retorted angrily as he gripped the arm of the couch.

"How dare I, how dare I what? Call you out on your own bullshit," Harleen pointed out sounding outraged at her father's behaviour. In reality she was just waiting for him to make the first move, the rest she could improvise, even if she had to do all the work herself.

"I told you to go upstairs," Harleen's father practically yelled at his daughter as he rose from the couch and angrily pointed down the hallway.

"Make me," Harleen challenged the man as she took a menacing step forward even though she was a good head shorter than him. She was now only two feet from him and had a cocky look on her face.

"Harleen do not cross that line with me," her father warned her as he to almost yelled back.

"What line? This isn't about me crossing a line. This is about you punishing me for no reason. What the hell have you got against my friend and his family?" Harleen inquired in an offended manner. Part of her really was curious as to why her father was acting this way but would be unprepared for what came next.

"I told you to go upstairs Harleen," the girls father repeated as he finally took a step towards her.

"And I asked you a question. What in the hell do you have against them? I mean they're perfectly nice people. So, what in the hell am I missing here huh. Or are you somehow jealous of them," Harleen threw out I an attempt to bait her old man.

"Jealous, who the hell would be jealous of a bunch of pompous n******," Harleen's father retorted in disgust as he grabbed his face in agitation. The girl had never seen her father like this, it looked to her as though he wanted to punch something.

Let's get this show on the road, Harleen had been waiting for something like this, though finding out her dad was racist had even caught her off guard. "What the hell did you just call them?" The girl inquired sounding both outraged and pissed off after the first few seconds of shock wore off.

"You heard me, they're a bunch of pompous n******. And I will not have you around them," Harleen's dad shot out sounding livid. As he lowered his hand, stomped his foot and had a look of rage on his face.

"The hell is wrong with you? You racist piece of shit," Harleen exclaimed as she purposely got in her dad's face. "Ugh, I'm disgusted to even be related to you," she spat back in a revolted tone as she turned away from him and held the top of her forehead. "Do you have any idea how fucking stupid you sound. What the hell dad," the girl continued as she looked back over at him with a highly upset and offset expression.

"Do not talk to me like that," Harleen's father yelled back as he advanced towards her slightly.

"I'll talk to you however I want, you racist piece of shit," Harleen bellowed back as she leaned in closer and gave her father a look of contempt. The two were now less then a foot from each other. "And there's not a damn thing you can do to stop me," the girl shouted right in the man's face causing her father to look at her in vehemence.

That's when for the first time in her life Harleen's father slapped her.

Harleen made sure to back towards the coffee table after the hit so she could pull off her next move.

Harleen's father reached towards her looking concerned and was about to say her name when the girl cut him off. "No dad, dad, what are you doing," she yelped and then threw herself over the coffee table and made sure to land on her back on the other side.

As Harleen's father watched in horror the girl proceeded to throw herself around the living room. Smashing into everything she could along the way and continuously punching herself. It was not until she backed up into the television causing it to loudly fall against the wall that Harleen heard her mothers running foot steps. She even made a point of breaking her own nose just before she heard her mother's footsteps on the stairs.

Harleen then lunged forward and grabbed her father. As she slid down him she made sure she left as much blood on him as possible, she even made a point of grabbing his hands.

Just before Harleen's mother rounded the last corner into the living room the girl threw herself back and coward away from her father who reached out for her which helped to complete the picture.

Harleen's mother stood in the entryway to the living room looking stunned. She then rushed towards the girl in attempt to help her. Instead of accepting the assistance Harleen instead coward away from her mother.

"No, don't touch me," Harleen yelped out as she curled up into a ball. "You're in this with him," Harleen lamented as her eyes began to swim with tears.

The pain was starting to set in but Harleen really did not care. She was trying to draw things out as she knew her sister would be home soon. It was her sister's night to cook dinner and she was exploiting this fact.

"Harleen please I," her mother insisted as she tried to further approach the girl.

The next sound that came was that of the door opening. Harleen's sister had arrived home and would fall to the ground at the site in front of her.

Harleen sprung on this and immediately leaped towards her sister. "Kathrynn, Kathrynn," she called desperately as she grabbed onto her sister. "Please don't let them hurt me anymore," the girl sobbed out sounding desperate.

To her credit Kathrynn immediately got out her cell phone and called the police while hugging a sobbing Harleen to herself.

"Hello, Gotham City Police Department. What's your emergency?" The operator on the other end asked politely.

"Umm, I think my parents just beat my younger sister," Kathrynn answered unsure of what else to say as this was beyond her depth.

"Are your parents still there?" The operator questioned sounding interested.

"Yes, they're in the living room which looks very, umm, messed up," Kathrynn tried explaining as Harleen continued to sob in her arms.

"We're sending two officers. Can I get the address please?" She inquired in a mechanical tone.

"Umm, it's 24 Wesley Crescent," Kathrynn replied as she hugged Harleen closer to her.

"Has this happened before?" The lady queried as she ensured the conversation was being properly recorded.

"Not that I know of. My parents aren't violent. I mean they've probably yelled at all of us at least once or twice. We've also been grounded and stuff before but this I. Our parent's have never even hit any of us. The, the living room though is really messed up," Kathrynn tried to describe as her voice trembled slightly.

"Do you know what they were arguing about?" She questioned then tried to hold in a yawn.

"No, one sec," Kathrynn responded then peered down at Harleen who was still clinging to her. "Harleen, what, why did dad do this," the older girl tried to ask but was unsure how to word her query.

"He got mad at me for going to my friends house," Harleen began to explain through her sobs.

As Harleen spoke Kathrynn lowered the phone so the operator could here her.

"I left a note and even made sure they met before hand. B-but dad got mad because he's racist and John's family's black. I was telling him off for it cause it's wrong and he just started hitting me. I tried to get away but he would shove me up against what he could. If mom hadn't come down the stairs, I, I," the girl continued as she buried her face in her sister's chest.

Upon hearing this from Harleen Kathrynn became a little stiff. The girl chanced a glance up at her sister who was now wearing an understanding expression as she looked up at her father.

At the sight of this sudden change Harleen had to calculate the situation carefully. She counted the seconds and the instant Kathrynn's gripped slackened the girl took her chance. Harleen sprang up suddenly and grabbed the cell phone as she went.

The sudden movement startled Kathrynn and Harleen managed to escape by the skin of her teeth. As she bolted towards the exit with her sister's cell phone in hand she felt relieved when she noticed she had left her shoes out, she scooped them up quickly then flung open the door.

As Harleen sprinted faster then she ever had in her life she lifted the phone to her ear.

"Hello, are you there Miss?" The operator asked sounding worried.

"I'm here, but I'm not the same girl as who started the call. I'm the one who just got beat up," Harleen answered as she continued to run down the street. The girl made sure to make several hair pin turns so as to throw off her family if they came looking for her.

Harleen knew not to go anywhere familiar so she hoped her feet took her somewhere unknown.

"Where are you now?" The operator asked as Harleen finally stopped as she felt extremely winded all of a sudden. Harleen knew this was not good and that she would have to increase her stamina.

"One sec," Harleen wheezed out in a hunched over position as she tried to catch her breath. "Umm, I appear to be in front of some kind of plaza," the girl answered finally as she straightened up to look around.

"Do you see any street signs?" The woman questioned as Harleen wandered over to one of the small stores.

"Let me see," Harleen mused as she glanced down the street.

"Take your time," the woman advised Harleen as she resumed speaking in a steadier tone.

Harleen quickly spotted a street sign and walked over to it. To the girl's relief she did not recognize the street name. "It says, Lowelant Avenue, and the number on the plaza I'm by is 90," she responded as Harleen glanced between the street sign and the plaza.

"Alright, we're sending some officers to get you. Rest assured we will not be returning you to your family," the operator informed Harleen in a confident tone.

"Thank you very much officer," Harleen replied in a stunned tone as she had been fully prepared to plead her case endlessly to make it seem as bad as possible.

Surprisingly though no one believed her father as Kathrynn and her brother thought it entirely possible of their father to do this as they already knew of his prejudices. As for Harleen's mom she was staying mute on the whole thing and seemed unable to process what had happened. Her father remained silent on the issue and Harleen only told the police that she could not live at home anymore but needed to get her stuff.

"They'll destroy it if I don't and I have some really important stuff from my grandmother," Harleen explained tearfully sounding desperate.

"Don't worry we'll send you with officers to your home right away. I'm not sure how much we can allow you to bring with you though," The officer cautioned Harleen who had a fretful look on her face. "I'll ensure you have as many bags as you can carry though," The officer reassured Harleen in a soothing voice.

"Thank you so much officer," Harleen replied trying to sound sincere.

"You're quite welcome," he told her with a friendly smile.

Upon arriving at her house Harleen immediately grabbed her I.D out of he kitchen drawer her mother kept them in. She then went up to her room and gathered up everything she needed to take with her.

At this point she was on her third journal and fourth scrap book. She also grabbed some non specific things as well as clothes and books to throw things off. The last thing she snatched up was her piggy bank which had $1930 in it plus some change. The girl had never spent her allowance or any of her gift money.

Harleen had plans to invest all of her money once she was old enough. This way she would never have to worry about money.

Once everything was done at the police station Harleen was sent to a temporary care home in the city once she made it obvious, she would not go back home.

Due to everything that had happened Harleen knew she needed to phone John and figure out things with the school.

Harleen did this after the first night in the care home as she had arrived quite late the previous evening.

"Hey John," Harleen said as the boy picked up the phone.

"Hey Harleen, what's up," John questioned in a curious tone as they had only just seen each other yesterday.

"Ummm, I'm not exactly sure how to tell you this," Harleen answered as she pondered how best to word her situation.

"Is it something serious?" John asked sounding concerned.

Harleen sighed at this question as she leaned against the wall. "Very actually, it's about school and my family," Harleen put forward as she starred up at the ceiling.

"What about them?" John inquired as he went to sit down as he had been working on something in his workshop.

"I'm not gunna be able to go to school anymore I think," Harleen explained as her voice began to quiver a little. "And it's cause of my family I'm afraid," she finished as she began to sob.

"Woah, woah, woah, are they withdrawing you for some reason?" John queried in a worried tone at Harleen's distress.

"No, but I'm not staying there anymore so it, kind a goes without saying," Harleen explained as she tried to control her sobs.

"What in the? Where are you then?" John asked sounding concerned as he got up to go and find one of his parents.

"I'm in a temporary care home they called it," Harleen told him as she slid to the floor with the payphone still in her hand.

"Why are you in one of those?" John questioned as he wandered down the hallway.

"Give me a minute," Harleen replied as she tried to get her sobbing in check. The girl counted out a good two minutes before responding properly, "it's cause of my dad. I didn't know this but he's extremely racist. He tried to punish me for going to your house. I called him out on it and what does he do, beat the shit out of me."

John paused in his attempts to find one of his parents to suddenly blurt out, "he did what." The boy sounded both furious and stunned at this news.

Harleen sighed in wariness at John's reaction. "I'm away from him now. Though like I said I won't be able to go to school anymore," Harleen pointed out to John just as another resident began to walk down the hallway.

"Not if I have anything to say about it. Harleen I'll call you back, where can I reach you?" John inquired still sounding pissed off as he resumed walking.

"It's 506-761-0432. Just say you want to speak to a resident then say my name," Harleen instructed John as the boy paused in his search to find a pen and paper in a small study.

"Will do, you said the number was 506-761-2834 correct?" John queried after finding what he needed.

"Yep, what are you going to do?" Harleen questioned in a curious tone.

"Well, I have a few ideas, though I'm not sure about any of them yet," John admitted as he resumed looking for his parents.

"Alright, I'll let you go then," Harleen said to John as she stood up and turned back towards the phone base.

"Kay, bye," John replied as he turned a corner.

"Bye," Harleen answered back then hung up the phone.

It was several hours later when John phoned her back and Harleen only had an hour left before the curfew.

"Hey, so I got some good news and some unfortunate news," John told her after saying hello.

"What's the unfortunate news?" Harleen questioned hoping it was nothing to bad.

"You're gunna have to go into foster care but my mom is willing to pay for your school fees and possibly your university, her only condition is that you keep your scores in the high nineties and apply for any available scholarships and such," John explained sounding slightly relieved but also guilty. "My mom is also going to recommend you for a foster home her friend runs. Apparently, it's really good, you'll have to share a room though," John explained as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Wow that's, thank you so much," Harleen exclaimed in surprise at this news.

John sighed a little at Harleen's easy acceptance of such terms. It seemed as if the boy believed his friend was getting the short end of the stick. "Well, I'm glad you're okay with it," John replied sounding slightly annoyed.

Harleen wondered a little at how John sounded but decided to ignore it. "Honestly, I am truly grateful for the opportunity," the girl responded in a cheery tone.

"Oh, is the home in Gotham? I plan on going to university here," Harleen asked in an earnest voice.

"It's five minutes outside of Gotham but it's quite close to the university," John answered as he leaned forward in his seat.

"That sounds reasonable," Harleen mused as she glanced up at the ceiling. "Well if that's it I'll let you go," the girl stated in a somewhat exhausted sounding tone.

"Good luck and I'll see you at school," John responded in a slightly irritated voice.

"Thanks, see you then, bye," Harleen answered back in a cheery manner.

"Bye," John replied then hung up the phone.

The transition to the foster home went smoothly and Harleen adjusted well, even managing to get her foster parents to buy her an extra-large backpack.

The children had large tubs in the basement with locks on them where they could keep important things. The items could not be dangerous and if it was something private like a diary it would not be opened. The inspections were all carried out in front of the kids.

The children were also allowed lock boxes to themselves to keep a few things with them at all times. The kids had the only key to them and like the tubs they were inspected regularly. The same no dangerous items rule applied to the lockboxes as well. The girl kept hers by at all times even going so far as to sleep with it wrapped in her arms. The key was tied around her neck at all times and she did not remove it even when showering.

Harleen was glad for the diary rule and that it extended to scrapbooks and photo albums.

Adjusting to the home was easy for Harleen and she was even given her own little study space at the end of the upstairs hallway. There was a small window beside a single small end table and cushy dinning chair. The tablet they gave her to use to research the internet was taken away each evening and given back as soon as she would head up to the space.

The only annoyance she had come across was that she could not use the printer as often as she wanted to. Unfortunately, it was older and only hooked up to the computer and she only got an few hours a week on it.

Once the closure of the school ended Harleen was again driven to and from everyday.

The first few weeks there were not bad. Harleen's foster parents were a little weirded out when she asked to have the newspaper as none of their other kids had any interest in it. Once she explained to them her career plans and how she thought current events were directly relevant to it though they made sure she got it every morning. The kids around her age were disappointed that she would not play with them.

"I'm sorry but I'm to busy with my studies," Harleen explained to them as they whined at her to come outside and play with them. The Foster mom kept having to shoo them away from her on weekends so she could do her specialized studying. The center was now making them do preparatory work for their chosen fields.

It wasn't till Harleen had been there for almost two months that the first hint of something wrong was going on. She found out from one of the younger boys that the two teenage boys were actually the foster parents' biological sons. One was seventeen and the other was fifteen.

The older of the two was quite tall and thin. He kept his blonde hair short and his face was seldom scruffy. The other son was a full head shorter but not quite as thin. His hair went just past his chin and was dyed bright red.

It was a night like any other, Harleen was just about to drift off to sleep when she heard the door click open. She thought nothing of this as the foster mom often checked on them periodically through the night. What she heard next though was light footsteps on the carpet and the sound of bedsprings being sat on. She then heard some odd rustling noises, feeling more than a little curious she opened her eyes a little and saw a shape on the bed in front of her.

It was too large to be her foster sister and the hair was too short. Then the moon came out from behind the clouds and lit up the room. That's when Harleen realized what she was seeing, the younger of the two boys was in the bed with the little girl, and was doing something very wrong to her. He soon left the room quietly; Harleen was more than a little shocked. She knew people had the capacity for such things considering her own experiences but to do it in a room with two other girls in it.

The next day Harleen's suspicions were confirmed when the girl went up to their foster mom complaining of a stomach ache.

It happened again a few days later to the other girl and went on for several weeks without anything being done even when one of the girls mentioned something about it to the mother. Instead of believing the girl she got mad at her and sent her to her room.

The foster mother even went so far as to tell the girl not to say such disgusting and blatant lies about her son.

When one of the boys came for Harleen she was ready for them, she knew by then it was both of the teenaged boys. She had seen both of them coming and going from the room by that point.

Harleen had her lockbox held tightly against her and had purposely loosened the string to the key tied around her neck. It would be the first time she would take it off since she first dawned the item.

Harleen heard the familiar click of the door and the expected footsteps. The girl had specifically slept on her side but with her torso slightly turned to the side so as to be ready to feign shifting in her sleep if need be. Her luck panned out though and she felt him sit down next to her on the side she was facing.

Harleen now gripped the key and slowly lowered it down as the boy turned to her and began to lift up her bed sheets.

Just as the cover was halfway up Harleen made her move. She gripped the handle of the lockbox tight and swung it upwards as hard as she could smacking the boy square in the face. The girl used all the force she could given the angle or her arm. It was not enough to knock the boy off the bed but he certainly reeled back and grabbed his nose in pain.

Harleen followed this up by stabbing him in the hand with her key. At this next injury he howled in pain and fell off the bed. The girl rose up advancing on him with the lockbox held tightly between her two hands.

As the boy tried to scramble away from Harleen she noticed to her delight the blood gushing from his nose.

Harleen was quite pleased that the lockboxes were not flimsy and thin. In fact, they were quite sturdy and the walls were a good centimeter thick. Unfortunately for the boy Harleen's also contained one of her journals and two scrapbooks, all of which were rather thick and heavy themselves.

Unknown to her foster family as well Harleen had begun to improve her stamina secretly. At school she had taken to jogging in place in the library as she read. This meant she needed to bring gym clothes and shoes to school but this did not bother the girl.

As Harleen advanced on him she decided mid bring down to kick him in the chin rather than finish her movement and risk getting stopped by his hands.

It worked he was caught off guard by Harleen's sudden kick and he fell over onto his back in a slight daze.

Harleen took her chance and stepped over him at the same time bringing the lockbox down square on his face. The girl made sure to pin his arms as she continued to beat him with the lockbox.

With each subsequent blow Harleen got a tiny glimpse of her work. As she watched his face go from mostly pale to black and grey in the darkness the girl's smile got wider and wider.

Her foster sisters watched in horror as Harleen continued her onslaught. The girl would not stop, could not stop that was until the door was swung open and the light clicked on. She was quickly dragged off of him and could still feel the crazed grin on her lips.

Harleen was panting and covered in sweat, she felt invigorated and ready to jump out of her skin. She noticed it was her foster mother who had grabbed her and she turned to the women and practically screeched at her, "now do you believe them." She said this while brandishing the bloody key in the direction of her foster sisters.

Harleen knew she looked crazy, new this was possibly bad. She didn't care though, what she had just done felt good, she wasn't exacting justice she was just protecting herself. If it were justice, she would have stopped at the first few blows, she would have finished when he fell off the bed. Instead someone else had to stop her, she knew if they had not, she would have killed him.

The boy whimpered in pain as Harleen glanced over at him in disgust. The girl took as much time as she could to stare at the boys marred visage.

His nose was almost flat now, his green eyes a bloody, black and blue mess. Both of them though were amazingly still intact. He then turned his head to the side and spit out three of his teeth along with a mouth full of blood.

Hiding her delight at seeing so much carnage caused by her hand Harleen turned to face her foster mother, she then got up and walked over to her bed.

Harleen sat on the bed and let out a long low sigh as she collected her thoughts.

"Your other sons been doing this as well," Harleen informed them as she glanced over at her foster father who was still standing in the doorway with a horrified look on his face.

At Harleen's words it was as though everyone came out of a trance. The foster mother moved forward clutching at her sons mangled face. The foster father immediately grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and called for an ambulance.

The boy began to sob in agony at his mother gingerly touching the sides of his face.

Harleen could tell he was going to have two black eyes as well as a mangled mouth. His nose would definitely need to be reconstructed and she had more then likely given him a concussion.

In the ten minutes it took for the ambulance to arrive Harleen felt a smug sense of satisfaction as she listened to the boy's howls of pain.

Harleen and the other girls fully explained what had been happening though it took the other two awhile to explain things as they were understandably uncomfortable. The girls all backed up each others stories and after that special locks were fitted on the doors and they were planning on setting up a specialized alarm system as well.

During this time Harleen obsessively noted everything in her journal. The damage she had done, the blood splatter patterns, the amount of blows she believed she dealt. The girl had lost count after five but knew it couldn't be over ten as he had not had time to try and buck her off or stop her in any way.

Even so Harleen and the other girls were transferred to other homes just in case.

In her new home her foster parents gave her a private room as well as a small laptop that used to be the father's.

Harleen did not care that it was somewhat slow as the house had Wi-Fi and she could research to her hearts content. She again had to do extra work to cover her tracks but this was a trivial matter to her.

The whole time Harleen told John nothing about this as she didn't think any of it mattered. The girl talked of the usual things with him and just said that things were fine in her home.

Time seemed to crawl for Harleen after this as she had no ability to go out and kill animals or set fires. In order to distract herself from this she began drafting her letters for the many scholarships, bursaries and grants she planned on applying for.

Harleen knew she would need not only a full scholarship to her chosen university but also enough income to support herself.

As Harleen allowed these things to take up all her time the year slowly crept by and before she knew it John was scheduled to move on to university himself.

After a year and a half at the center it was time for John to leave for University. Harleen couldn't understand John's disappointment at this accomplishment.

"I really don't see why you're so down lately," Harleen told John as the two walked towards the library. "I mean you get to go and study for your field, meanwhile I'm still stuck here for another year at least," she stated with a sigh sounding impatient and fed up. She even had a mildly cross look on her face.

"Well it's just, I'm going to miss this place," John explained as he held open the door to the library for Harleen. "Plus, we won't be able to hang out as much anymore," he continued with a slight sigh. The girl had been allowed to visit John's house several times since being in her foster home. During these times they would watch many more movies together.

Harleen shrugged and said, "Well we're going to be attending the same University so we can see each other more once I'm done here." She took a seat near the windows and began pulling several reference books out of her bag.

"Ya, unlike you though I'm only there for three years then I have to attend elsewhere," John said sounding a little annoyed.

"Well it's not my fault that the university only offers the introductory course for your field," Harleen stated sounding a little agitated at John's complaints.

"Sorry, it's just well, I'm going to miss being able to talk with you every day," John told Harleen as he leaned back in his chair.

"You can always phone me," Harleen told John as she read through her notes.

"Not with the schedule I have, I'm going to be to busy," John explained as he pulled out his timetable and examined it again for the hundredth time. It was beginning to tear from how often he was handling it.

"Again, not my fault," Harleen said to John as she added more notes to her work.

"You really don't care do you?" John asked her sounding more than a little upset at Harleen's lack of understanding.

Harleen paused suddenly realizing she was badly messing up this social interaction. After all John considered her a close friend. Even though the girl only saw fiends as superfluous and a bit of an obstacle, as from what she could see they often got in the way of more important things.

Harleen knew all this but also knew about the appearances she had to keep up in order to follow through with her plans. She looked at John and chose her words carefully so that she wouldn't seem callous.

"I'm sorry John, it's just that I have a lot on my plate right now as you know," Harleen explained to him sounding apologetic. "After all I have to finish the extra research study elements in order to have a more open schedule when I start," she was looking at John properly now and had set aside her books.

"Ya I remember you telling me about how you wanted to look for a job so you could sustain yourself," John stated as he recalled a conversation they had been having a month prior before class started.

"Exactly, and the only way that will work is if my schedule is more free to accommodate it," Harleen informed John as she pulled one of her books back towards her. "So right now, I need to spend this next year doing the courses I can here as preparation for my field work. That way I will have a lighter workload whilst attending there," the girl said all this while making more notes.

"Won't it be hard to get a job due to your age?" John asked Harleen sounding slightly concerned.

Harleen shook her head and answered, "not if it's an on campus one, they have age exceptions on them and since I have skills in all areas, I could do most of them."

"What were you thinking of doing?" John asked Harleen with a curious expression as he pulled several books out of his bag.

"Tutoring, not really sure which section yet though. I need to finish this stuff first though and get my acceptance confirmed before I can apply," Harleen answered quickly and then began to scan her textbook for relevant passages.

John waited till Harleen was finished reading as he knew she didn't like to be interrupted. "How much money can you make from that?" the boy questioned as he opened his book and began to scan the index.

Harleen made a few more notes before replying, "more than you think, it depends on the subject as well as how many students you're seeing. If you're really in demand you can charge extra for specialized lessons and group sessions."

"What's the starting rate?" John was looking through his bag for a pencil as he asked Harleen this.

"Anywhere between $15-$25 and hour depending on the subject," Harleen replied as she grabbed another book and opened it.

"And how many hours are you figuring you can do?" John inquired as he pulled three

pencils out of the bottom of his bag. The boy noticed to his annoyance that all of them were in need of sharpening.

"It's not a matter of how many I can do but how many clients I can get," Harleen explained as she put away two of her books. The girl then grabbed her pencil sharpener and passed it over to John who was once again rummaging through his bag.

"Well hopefully once you start making enough money you can move close to the campus for convenience sake," he stated as he took the sharpener and began to use it on the shortest pencil.

"That's the plan, I already have some money saved from when my parents used to give me an allowance, luckily I kept it all in my piggy bank and I was able to bring it with me," Harleen said as she pulled a laptop out of her bag.

"How much do you have saved up?" John asked her assuming it would be no more than a few hundred dollars. The boy then got up and walked over to the garbage can to empty the pencil sharpener.

Harleen opened her essay on her laptop before answering, "just under $2000." She said this as John resumed his seat next to her.

John looked at her with surprise before questioning her further, "how do you have that much money saved?"

"I never spent my allowance as I never really had anything I wanted to buy when I was a kid," Harleen told John though this was only half true.

Harleen had wanted some things as a kid but she could always figure out ways to get her parents to buy these things for her.

"Well, here's hoping everything works out," John responded as he handed the pencil sharpener back to Harleen.

"Ya, that's for sure," Harleen replied in a sheepish manner as she put the pencil sharpener back in her backpack.

The two then fell silent and began taking notes as they did not have much time left before the class started.

On John's last day Harleen agreed to stay with him at the center till his mom drove him home. The woman was staying late due to a budgetary meeting.

Harleen's foster parents were understanding of her wanting to spend John's last day with him. So, they readily agreed to allow the girl to stay there a bit later in order to see her friend off.

"Hard to believe I'm not going to be here tomorrow and that in two weeks I start at University," John stated as they sat outside eating what was left of their lunches.

"I'll be joining you in about a year," Harleen told John as she grabbed an apple from her lunch bag.

The center had just confirmed her last course week date. Harleen still had a lot of work to do though before leaving if she wanted things to work out properly. Soon the girl would be scheduling visits to the campus in order to meet her teachers as well as apply for the tutoring jobs she wanted.

Harleen had found out the previous week that she had been accepted into Gotham University on a full scholarship. Most of the grants and bursaries she had applied for had also gone through so she would be able to start saving even more.

Harleen had already explained to CAS and her foster parents that she wanted to be independent as soon as possible as she was very responsible with money and liked her privacy.

Both parties did the best they could to support her in this and were beginning to look through safe apartments and how the law worked in these cases.

"Ya that's true, try not to have too much fun without me," John advised Harleen teasingly.

Harleen rolled her eyes at John before replying, "Ya I'm really going to whoop it up in here while you're gone."

John chuckled a little at Harleen's comment as he continued to stare up at the sky. "Just let me know if Edward bugs you, I'll be sure to stop by and straighten him out," he informed the girl as he glanced over at her.

"I think I can handle him at this point, besides he seems to have been rather complacent since that incident a year ago," Harleen told John before taking another bite of her apple.

"That's only cause he knew he'd get it from me if he bothered you, he may get up to his antics again with me gone," John explained sounding more than a little concerned about his friend. The boy then began to eat a small chocolate cake like dessert filled with marshmallow fluff.

Harleen shrugged before getting up to toss her apple core in the trash. "Unless he tries to do something physical, I'll just ignore him," she informed John as she sat back down.

John sighed slightly before saying, "just let me know okay." He crumpled up the wrapper with his left hand as he ate the small cake with his right.

"Will do," Harleen replied just as John's mom was exiting the building along with some of her colleagues.

Some of their conversation drifted over to them as they sat in silence watching the sunset. "I still don't see why you went to all the trouble," a tall man said to John's mother as he snapped his briefcase shut.

"As I explained before I accommodated it because if I didn't, we wouldn't have been able to afford the fees on the new center," she explained to her agitated looking co-worker.

"If it were me, I would have just sent her packing, rather than deal with any possible court backlash," he told John's mother in a matter of fact tone.

"Well I somewhat share your sentiments Carl, in the end it all worked out as I got half of the tuition fee from CAS anyway, I also am not paying for any of her other costs so the expense is minimal really," she explained as they headed towards the parking lot.

Harleen wasn't very surprised at this conversation, she knew John's mother could not be any better than the rest of the world. She knew everyone was greedy and selfish, often driven by their own egotistical needs. So, it surprised her to see the look on John's face as she glanced over at him. His profile was rigid and wound up as though he was ready to spring out of his seat and his expression was that of rage.

John had paused mid chew at his mother's words, he chewed once more then swallowed slowly. "I think I need to have a little talk with my mother," John stated then got up from his seat and walked swiftly towards the parking lot.

If John had spoken with his mother Harleen never heard anything about it. John did not phone her nor did his mother call her to the office.

It had been a month since John left before anything significant happened and it was just Edward bothering Harleen again.

Edward began leaving riddles and puzzles on Harleen's desk each morning. The first day it caught her off guard but luckily for her there was no one else there yet.

Harleen appeared to all but ignore these attempts to bother her. In reality though, she had decided to beat him at his own game. The whole year passed seemingly without incident except on her last day there.

Harleen had found out Edward's last name as well as the fact that he was staying at the center. An hour before she was going to be picked up, she had left all the riddles and puzzles Edward had given to her in front of his door.

Harleen wondered what Edward's reaction would be to her doing this. It had at least helped her pass some time, though she had solved every riddle in under three minutes.

Every one of them was in a booklet and had been solved in the exact order Harleen had gotten them. The girl had even written down in the corner the day she solved it and the amount of time it took. She also left Edward a note in an envelope on top of the book.

Now Harleen waited outside for her last ride from the center. She was sitting on the steps when she heard the door open behind her. Thinking it was just one of the teachers she didn't bother to move. Next thing the girl felt though was something large and rectangular landing on her head. It fell off quickly and landed beside her, Harleen saw it was the booklet she had left outside Edwards's door.

Glancing up Harleen saw Edward standing directly behind her looking furious. "May I help you?" The girl asked him in a bored tone.

"What in the hell is this," Edward practically yelled at Harleen.

"It's all the notes you left me, I thought you might want to have them back as I have nowhere to keep them unfortunately," Harleen told Edward in a calm tone as she shrugged a little.

"Don't mock me you bitch," Edward screamed as his voice cracked, his body was still testing things out. He then threw the note Harleen had left him down onto the concrete beside her.

Before Harleen could reply her ride showed up. The girl lifted her head back up and she walked swiftly towards the car leaving Edward standing there fuming. The note she had left read for him read simply:

Dear Edward,

I may be a Harlequin, but you're not much of an Enigma.

Sincerely,

Harleen Quinzel

Harleen had to hold in her laughter at the sight of his face as they drove away.

Though that was not as satisfying as she had hoped it still helped ease her urges slightly. Seeing Edward's disbelieving and ferocious face was worth solving the simple games he had left her. Why she would not have been surprised if he had gotten all the riddles off of a search engine.

Harleen pondered at what else she could do to occupy her time while she was unable to kill animals. The girl finally decided to research how to invest and use the stock market properly. It bored her immensely but she stuck with it as she knew it would be important.

 **Hello Everyone,**

 **Here's the next chapter as promised. So far it seems it doesn't show the update if I choose to edit the chapter instead of outright replacing it. So if you guys want to know what's happening with my writing and know about the revamp please follow me on Twitter and Instagram. Both are listed in my bio and at the bottom of my last two chapters.**

 **Also, if you message me questions about the story I will be more then willing to answer and any feedback is much appreciated.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **RJ Meijers**


	4. Chapter 4: Semester 1

**Chapter 4: Semester 1**

Harleen's first day of University was spent mostly dodging her taller classmates and being stared at with curiosity. Almost everyone went up to her and asked if she was lost, she combated this by showing them her student card which she had attached to a lanyard around her neck.

John met up with Harleen for an hour that afternoon. "So how has your first day been so far?" He asked her as he pulled out his lunch.

"Pretty uneventful," Harleen answered with a shrug.

"The first week usually is as it's just introductory lessons. Come week three or four though, that's when all the interesting stuff starts," John explained to Harleen as he began to eat his sandwich.

"I kind a figured as much, as they have to show us all the techniques and such before we can try them ourselves," Harleen responded as she pulled out her own lunch.

"I imagine most of your classes are more hands on than mine," John mused then took the first bite of his sandwich.

"Now to sure honestly. Though most of mine have practical tests as well as written ones," Harleen pointed out as she began to peel a clementine.

"Hmmm, well I'm sure you of all people will have no problem either way," John put forward then chugged half of his water.

"Here's hoping," Harleen replied then began to separate the sections of the citrus fruit she had.

As Harleen was about to head home for the day she was stopped by a tall, athletic looking woman with bright red hair. "Are you lost?" She asked Harleen sounding concerned.

Harleen resisted the urge to roll her eyes as this was the fourteenth time she had been asked this that day. She showed the women her I.D and was about to keep walking when she said, "Oh if you're a student could I have a moment of your time?"

Harleen glanced over at the display the women had been standing in front of. It had pictures of trees and tropical plants she didn't recognize. One picture was of the ravine behind her old place.

Harleen decided to listen just in case, after all she couldn't have people finding any of the stuff she left there, though most of it would be decomposed by now.

"Sure," Harleen said as the women looked at her with a small smile.

"That's the spirit, my name is Pamela," she told Harleen as she led the younger girl over to the table. "And you are?" The woman asked as she grabbed some pamphlets off the table.

"I'm Harleen," the girl answered as she took the pamphlet and began to examine it.

Pamela told Harleen that she was an Eco Warrior and was trying to get people at the University to help her with her campaign to save a rainforest in South America. The reason the pictures of the ravine where there was because it was being given protected status as a permanent green space for the community. Pamela wanted the same status bestowed upon the whole rainforest. Harleen listened politely as she held in a sigh of relief. At the end of her speech Pamela handed Harleen a business card with her information on it.

"I'll look it up when I get the chance," Harleen told Pamela as she pocketed the card.

Pamela gave Harleen a friendly nod before running over to a few other students who had just entered the hallway.

It turned out Harleen and Pamela shared an electoral class. Pamela waved at her as she entered the room and indicated the seat next to her. Harleen took it then opened her bag to take out her books.

"Fancy seeing you again," Pamela said to Harleen as she opened her laptop.

Harleen merely nodded as she began setting things on the desk. She then straightened up and opened her own laptop.

"What's your major here?" Pamela asked Harleen as she opened up the web browser on her computer.

"Advanced Medical Sciences," Harleen answered as she opened her word processor program. She thought it only polite to ask Pamela the same question, "how about you?'

"Environmental Sciences," Pamela replied as she gave Harleen a curious look. "How old are you?" She asked the younger girl.

"I turned thirteen in July," Harleen informed Pamela as she opened her own web browser in order to load up any online material for the lesson.

Pamela stared at Harleen blankly for a moment before saying, "you're thirteen and you're already in the advanced course." The woman sounded both stunned and impressed by this information.

Harleen shrugged as though it was nothing as she downloaded the information from the school website she needed. "I'm only that far along because the University doesn't allow field experience for those under eighteen. I'd only be at the beginning level otherwise," the girl explained to Pamela as she glanced over at her.

"That's still really impressive, I just started here from high school and this isn't an easy university to get into," Pamela said as she to began to open the required lecture material.

"Well if you ever need a tutor, I'm taking students at $18-$22 an hour as an introductory rate for most subjects," Harleen informed Pamela as a few other students entered the classroom.

Pamela laughed a little at this information before replying, "I'll keep that in mind."

Harleen was about to head home after her second week of university when both Pamela and John spotted her from opposite ends of the library.

Once they were close enough they both said "Hi Harleen." After hearing each other's voice's speaking simultaneously they looked up at each other.

Harleen was still packing away her things but didn't miss a beat, "Pamela, John. John, Pamela," the girl introduced as she reached for another book on the table.

"Hi, nice to meet you," Pamela stated with a friendly smile as she extended her hand.

John shook her hand in greeting then replied, "nice to meet you as well."

The two then sat on either side of Harleen as she finished putting her last book in her bag.

"Are you heading home?" Pamela questioned as she rested her elbows on the table.

"Yep, my ride should be here soon," Harleen answered as she hoisted her bag into her lap.

"Do they always pick you up?" John inquired as he traced a pen mark with his finger.

"Depends, most Thursday's I have to take the bus cause my foster father works late that day," Harleen explained as she pushed herself away from the desk.

"Eh, it's always good to know how to use city transit," Pamela pointed out as she glanced over at John.

"True, there's been a lot more issues with them lately though I hear," John put forward in an advising tone.

"Isn't that cause of those super criminals. Didn't they hijack, I think it was four city buses and a school bus in the last four months," Pamela brought up as Harleen glanced at her watch.

"Ya something like that. The one guy even made a point of robbing everyone on board," John remembered as he had read a few of the articles.

"Didn't he also give the kids on board candy?" Pamela questioned as she leaned forward to better look at john around Harleen.

"He gave them to the teenagers as well," Harleen interjected as she did her best not to smile at her memory of reading the article.

"Ya I remember the article I read saying that it was really bizarre as all the candy was perfectly normal. They tested it all for poisons and such and it all came back normal," John expanded as Harleen moved to get up finally.

"Sorry guys I gotta get going," Harleen told them as she stood up and began to shift away from the desk.

"Oh, ya, sorry to keep you," Pamela stated sounding a little apologetic.

"That's alright, see you later," Harleen answered then turned to walk away.

"See you Monday," John replied then leaned back in his chair.

"Bye," Pamela said as she finally started up the computer in front of her.

It was almost a month before Harleen got a call saying she had her first client as a tutor. The lesson went well and the girl was just about to leave when she turned to look at Harleen and stated, "I just realized I don't remember your name."

"It's Harleen," she said as she began to get things set up for her next client as she had several back to back session that day.

The girl stood there staring at her with curiosity. "Is your last name Quinzel?" She asked as Harleen looked up at her.

"Yes it is," she answered and wondered slightly where this was going.

"Do you have a sister named Kathrynn?" She questioned further her face looking all the more interested.

"Yep," Harleen replied simply as she realized how the rest of this conversation was going to go.

"Oh, okay," was all the girl said though before leaving.

Harleen knew this would probably lead nowhere good. Her suspicions were confirmed the following Monday as she made her way to class with John walking beside her. His lesson that afternoon was a few doors down the same hallway.

Harleen saw Kathrynn leaning up against the wall surrounded by a small group of other females her age.

"Well if it isn't my prodigy sister back from god knows were," Kathrynn said teasingly as Harleen approached.

Harleen chose to ignore Kathrynn as she walked down the hallway. John did the same as he walked the girl to her classroom.

"Please tell me you aren't dating that," Kathrynn stated sounding patronizing.

John laughed at this and retorted, "if you're trying to provoke her, you're going to have to come up with something vastly more creative than that."

Kathrynn looked highly off put by John speaking to her and even glared at him angrily as they walked past.

They had walked a ways farther down the hallway before they reached Harleen's classroom.

"Let me know if they continue bothering you. I can't stop them the same way I did Edward but I can sure as hell prevent things from going physical," John reassured Harleen as they paused outside the door.

"I'll keep that in mind," Harleen answered automatically as she peered up at the boy.

"Mmm, anyway, I'll see you later," John stated as he glanced down the hallway they had just come to see if Kathrynn was still there.

"Yep, see ya," Harleen responded then turned to enter her classroom.

It only took two days for Kathrynn to gather enough of her friends together for Harleen to hear a near constant diatribe directed at her in the hallways.

Harleen ignored this as she was used to being ostracized and treated with hostility due to her elementary school days.

When ever Harleen was on her own the next week she would hear someone close by muttering about her along with the occasional rude name.

Harleen was able to ignore this until she found them purposely blocking her path to her classrooms. Once they started this tactic the girl decided she was no longer going to put up with things as they were directly hindering her now.

Harleen asked all her teachers to meet her as soon as they were able to in order to discuss what was going on.

Harleen knew they were quite likely to help her given the circumstances and her own status within the school Though she also prepared several things just in case the meeting did not go her way or if anyone needed some gentle persuasion.

The five professors were very surprised by Harleen telling them about the harassment. She explained some of what had led her into being in the care of CAS. She also informed them of the fact that her whole family had the same view about these matters. So the bullying Harleen was experiencing was not only expected but would not be easily solved by her just talking to Kathrynn.

They sat in stunned silence for a few seconds before Harleen's Advanced Medicines professor spoke from across the room, "well that is quite the unfortunate story young lady. Of course we will do what we can to end this harassment."

"Thank you, Professor Paulson," Harleen responded sounding a little relieved that everything seemed to have gone smoothly

It was not till Harleen's gaze swept the room that she realized at least one of her Professor's was uninterested in helping her.

Harleen's Ethics professor was looking at her with slightly accusatory eyes. "May I ask Ms. Quinzel, what you yourself have done to counter what has been going on?" He asked her as he tried and failed to keep the skepticism out of his voice.

By now Harleen knew what type of person this man was. He himself was not only from the older generation but he was also very old fashioned and covertly sexist.

Harleen decided her best defense was to counter with her own question, "May I ask what you mean by that professor?"

The older man looked a little thrown off by this tactic. "What I mean is, have you tried anything yourself, like talking to your sister or these friends of hers. Usually something like this," he stated gesturing towards his fellow professors, "would be enacted only if things were really out of hand or had been going on for a while," the man finished as he leaned back in his chair.

"As I have already explained, my sister has the same views as my parents, which are not only old fashioned but wildly damaging to others. As for her friends they are all going along with what she is saying and while my words may have a small effect, she is around them far more often than I am," Harleen explained directing her words at her Ethics professor as everyone else sat with baited breath.

"Well it appears to me as though you are wasting our time," he stated as he moved to stand up.

"Excuse me, but isn't it part of your jobs mandate to protect students from dangerous situations and prevent conflicts between pupils from escalating," Harleen stated sounding rather forceful.

"It is yes, but only if said students do their own work as well. After all you can't really expect us to solve such trivial matters," he retorted sounding as though he thought this would end the discussion.

Harleen made herself look both confused and upset by her professor's lack of concern. "That's not correct Professor. A student's job is to study, learn and apply their knowledge to their chosen field. Also last I checked dealing with on campus harassment by myself was not included in what I need to learn from here. As for the trivialness of it, how it being bullied by a small brigade of my sister's friends a minor matter, I clearly explained how there's at least a good fifteen of them at it," the girl finished as she prepared to kill two birds with one stone.

"Well it's not like you're actively doing anything to prevent it, you could try making up with your family and go back to being a good girl so that all this nonsense can end," he stated quickly sounding very agitated.

"And how is being in an environment where I have to fear for my well being going to be a good thing exactly?" Harleen asked him sounding somewhat outraged.

"As I said make up with them. There are plenty of ways for someone like you to do that. Just like all the rest of them," the professor retorted then mumbled out the last sentence.

He had fallen into Harleen's trap as he finished his sentence, she fished out a voice recorder as well as a small cassette tape from her bag. The girl stuck it in and fast forwarded the tape to no particular point.

Harleen knew all the things she had stuck on the tape would be damaging to her professor. The only reason she had done this was because she had heard that his sexual harassment would sometimes turn physical and she did not want to be a victim of it.

The point Harleen had stopped on started with a female student who had gone up to the professor to ask about something, "I mean euthanasia as a whole is," she was about to finish her sentence when professor Landry cut her short.

"Yes while that's all well and good for someone of the gender that is dictated by emotions to say that, those of us who are far more logical thinking see things in a vastly different manner. Now please return to your seat before I permanently remove you from my class," Professor Landry said to her sounding highly annoyed.

Harleen then paused the tape and looked up at her teachers who were all sitting there looking flabbergasted. She turned to Professor Landry and asked, "so professor tell me, have I really not done enough, or is your reluctance to help me stem from my being female?" The girl had to hold back a smile as she asked this.

The other four professors were staring at Landry with disapproval and anger.

Professor Landry sat stunned for a moment then seemed to come to his senses and looked livid. "When did you record that?" The older man asked Harleen sounding accusatory.

"A tape recorder is one of the many tools we students are encouraged to use for our benefit. I simply keep mine on record for the whole time I'm in the classroom just in case something relating to my studies is mentioned and I don't have the opportunity to write it down," Harleen explained sounding innocent.

"But we, I, how could," Professor Landry seemed to be at a loss for words.

At his last statement though her other male professor stood up and said loudly, "how could she what? Not use the resources we encourage all students who attend here to use." He was glaring at Landry in disgust.

Harleen's Bio Chemistry teacher looked over at her and said, "I think that is quite enough for now. Harleen you may leave."

Harleen exited the room before things got out of hand.

As soon as Harleen got far enough away from the school she burst out in hysterical laughter, that had felt good. Almost as good as when she had beaten that boy with the hammer, almost as good as when she killed the animals.

Harleen realized then just how long it had been since she had gone out and killed anything. She had also not been able to set any fires as a there were similar no dangerous object rules in her current foster home.

Harleen felt restless as she came to the realization and wondered how long till she would be able to carry out such acts again. Eventually she would be unable to resist her urges and the girl knew she would have to solve this issue sooner rather than later.

Harleen decided to research what she could about her current status as a foster child and ways to become independent. She knew it would take work but if it got her where she needed to be sooner she was more than willing to do it.

When Monday came Harleen noticed an email asking for her to come to the administrative area as they needed to get the information she had about Professor Landry.

Harleen headed to the office named in the email and was glad she had already thought up how to explain the entire tape of Professor Landry being discriminatory.

"Well thanks for compiling it all for us," the HR Manager said to Harleen as she was handed the tape.

"Like I said I only did it because of the rumours," Harleen said somewhat truthfully as she leaned back in her chair.

"Ya we've been trying to pin something on him for awhile now. I'm glad someone as studious as you came along," the woman responded as she dropped the cassette tape into a small plastic bag.

"I'm glad I could be of assistance," Harleen replied with a cheerful smile.

"Yes, well. Hopefully this will be the end of things and if we meet again it will be under better circumstances," the woman put forward as she set the bag on the table and peered back over at Harleen.

"I hear ya there. Can I get going now?" Harleen questioned as it was almost time for her last lesson of the day.

The HR Manager glanced over at the clock on the wall at Harleen's inquiry. "Ya we should be good. Can I email you if we need to speak with you again?" The woman asked in an interested manner.

"That's fine with me," Harleen replied as he pushed her chair away from the table.

"Alright, bye, and thanks again," the woman said giving Harleen a grateful smile.

"You're welcome, bye" Harleen responded then stood up to leave.

Much to Harleen's delight Professor Landry had been replaced with a substitute and she also heard that he had been fired. The girl made a secret pact with herself that as soon as she could she would end the man's underserved life.

John came up to Harleen the following week to ask her how things were going.

"It's all settled. She gave up after I ignored her enough," Harleen lied sounding bored.

The truth was though Kathrynn had completely stopped some of her friends still muttered things as Harleen passed. Harleen was able to ignore this though and knew they would not step things up again.

John looked somewhat skeptical of Harleen's response. "If you say so," the boy replied in a slightly concerned tone.

"How bout this, if she starts up again I'll let you know," Harleen reassured John in attempt to dissuade his suspicions.

John seemed to relax a little at this suggestion. "Thank you," the boy answered then he let out a long sigh. "Why always you?" John pondered sounding highly perturbed.

Harleen let out an even longer sigh in exasperation. "I couldn't tell ya, but it sucks," the girl responded in a wary manner. "I'd say maybe it's cause of my intelligence but then you'd be just as enamoured with problems as I am," Harleen pointed out as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Hmm, well we all have our own issues. Though I will say mine seem like small cookies compared to yours," John admitted in a wary sounding way.

At this point Harleen knew it was only polite to ask about things with John. "What's been happening with you anyway?" Harleen inquired as Pamela joined them at the table they were occupying.

"Hi guys," Pamela greeted them with a happy smile.

"Hey Pam," Harleen responded as she looked over at the woman with a friendly expression.

"Hello Pamela," John responded as he glanced between the two friends. "Not much has been happening. Though one of my butlers has been getting really sick lately," John stated as he leaned back in his chair.

"That sucks, hope it's nothing serious," Harleen responded in a concerned tone.

"Me too. He keeps having to leave early or just calls in right before his shift," John told them as he crossed his arms.

"Is he seeing a good doctor?" Pamela questioned as she rested her chin in her hand.

"From what I know, yes. He's seeing him again tomorrow actually," John replied then shifted in his seat.

"Well then, you'll probably hear something soon depending on what it is and how long it's been going on for," Harleen put forward as she glanced at her watch. "Shoot, sorry guys my next class is in ten minutes," the girl blurted out sounding apologetic.

"Oh, well see ya later then," Pamela responded in a somewhat off put manner.

"See ya," Harleen said then began to walk away.

It was getting nearer to exam time and Pamela was sitting at their usual table scanning her notes.

"Are you not done yet?" Harleen questioned sounding alarmed.

The paper Pamela had in front of her was due tomorrow by twelve. From what Harleen could tell the woman's paper was only half done.

"I'm just finishing. Give me fifteen minutes," Pamela replied as she began to type again.

"Okay, while you do that, I'm going to look at apartments," Harleen stated as she sat down at the computer next to Pamela.

"Wait, what? Apartments? Since when can you get an apartment? Aren't you only thirteen?" Pamela questioned sounding highly perplexed.

"Well it may be true that it's been thirteen years since I was born, I'm not exactly a thirteen-year-old in the traditional sense," Harleen reminded Pamela in a slightly teasing manner.

"Ya, ya, ya genius. So how can you do that anyway?" Pamela inquired as she turned back to her essay.

"I found out due to my intelligence and circumstances I can take my case to court and argue to be made legally an adult," Harleen began to explain then noticed Pamela had stopped typing once again to stare at her disbelievingly.

Pamela blinked several times then seemed to return to her senses. "Okay, but what does that have to do with apartment's?" The woman questioned in a confused tone.

"Umm, you see, one of the ways for me to be legally be declared an adult is to prove I can live responsibly. In these cases CAS will help the person find a permanent residence where they can stay even after they are declared an adult," Harleen expanded as she began to start up one of the computers.

"Why do they do that?" Pamela inquired in an interested manner.

"So that there's no time limit on when you need to move out," Harleen answered then typed her name into the login screen.

"Ah, that makes sense. Do you have enough to afford an apartment?" Pamela asked as she glanced at her notes.

"I have for awhile, but I want to be six months ahead just in case," Harleen informed Pamela as she began to type into the search engine bar.

"Wow. Why are you saving that far ahead though?" Pamela responded sounding quite impressed.

"Well think about it. I may have plenty of clients now, as well as next semester, but that probably won't happen over the summer. I either need to find a summer job, or have enough saved up for the gap to keep me a float, and that includes back up money for any emergencies," Harleen put forward as she clicked on several of the links.

"Guess I know who to ask for advice when I go to move out," Pamela stated then began to type again.

"Eh, just make sure you finish your part of the group project by tomorrow," Harleen reminded Pamela then she began to read one of the apartment descriptions.

"Oh that, I finished it just before this. I can send it when I'm done here," Pamela answered with a dismissive wave.

"Cool, then I can finish the rest tomorrow," Harleen responded as she clicked on another listing.

"When do you plan on looking at these places?" Pamela questioned as she glanced over at Harleen's screen.

"Not to sure yet. I just want to research the market conditions first and see what may be available by the university," Harleen told Pamela as she made an annoyed face and closed one of the links.

"Sounds like a good idea. Are you looking for anything specific?" Pamela inquired then wrote the last line of her essay.

"I just want to make sure it's in a nice neighbourhood. I also want a two-bedroom apartment as I need an office," Harleen answered as she leaned down to grab her bag.

"Ya I hear ya there. There's this one section at the opposite end of my street that everyone refuses to go near anymore. After it was abandoned a bunch of homeless people moved in. They never bothered us really, just sat near the end of the street with signs asking for change and charity. The last few years though gangsters and drug dealers have taken up the space. My mom refuses to go anywhere near there," Pamela put forward as she scrolled back to the top of her essay.

"Can't say I blame her," Harleen responded then let out an exasperated sigh and hung her head in disappointment.

"Find anything good?" Pamela questioned Harleen as she fixed two spelling mistakes.

"Some look promising. Not sure they'll still be available when I officially start looking. Mainly I want to research neighbourhoods," Harleen answered as she glanced over at Pamela who was halfway done editing her essay.

"You're always so thorough," Pamela stated sounding slightly strained.

"Eh, as they say, better safe than sorry," Harleen responded with a small shrug.

"This it true," Pamela mused as she turned two sentences into one sentence.

"Hey Pamela, why don't I edit that for you?" Harleen suggested as she read a little of her friends' paper.

Pamela paused for a moment then fixed another spelling error. "Okay," the woman replied in a skeptical manner.

"Don't worry, I won't do anything funny to it," Harleen reassured Pamela as she leaned over to look at Pamela's screen.

"Alright, just give me a moment. I'm almost done," Pamela informed Harleen as she nudged her friend with her shoulder.

It was the beginning of finals week and the campus was packed. Harleen had just finished her first exam and was sitting at a far computer in the library.

John walked into the upper part of the library and recognized Harleen from above. He walked down to the girl and took the seat next to her.

"Hey," John said to her as he started the computer in front of him.

"Hello," Harleen greeted as she read over her notes for the fifth time that day.

"Is it true your getting an apartment?" John questioned as he typed in his login then waited for the computer to load.

"I'm not getting one yet. I'm still researching things," Harleen answered then glanced down at her notes.

"When do you think you'll be able to," John inquired sounding interested,

"Probably sometime next semester. I have to confirm a few things over the winter break," Harleen put forward as she scrolled down a ways on the web page.

"You know I'm surprised you'd want to do that given how much the cost is and the state of the city currently," John put forward as he began to open several programs on the computer.

"That's why I'm researching the different neighbourhoods and have so much saved up. I'm already in talks with my CAS worker about getting a cell phone and vault to be safe," Harleen reassured John as she knew he often worried about these things.

"Sounds like you've got everything covered. Can you give the cell phone number out?" John questioned as he read through his notes on the computer.

"Yep, it'll be in my name. CAS just has to co-sign for it," Harleen answered then began to pack away her things.

"Do you have another exam today?" John inquired as he glanced over at Harleen.

"Nope, my rides just gunna be here soon," Harleen replied as she began to close the programs she had been using.

"Guess, I'll see you tomorrow then," John said as he passed Harleen her pencil which had rolled closer to him.

"Thanks, yep see you then," Harleen responded then finished putting her things away before leaving.

On the last exam day Harleen was about to exit the front door when she noticed her brother standing outside the front entrance. The girl almost did not recognize him, he had grown a large beard, was wearing glasses and had much shorter hair compared to when she last saw him.

He looked up and noticed Harleen about to leave the building, he waved at her and smiled. The girl exited the building into the blistering cold December weather as her brother walked up to her.

"Hey, how ya been sis?" he asked Harleen sounding cheery as he stuffed his gloved hands in his pockets.

Harleen thought it a little odd that he was addressing her that way as he had only ever called their other sister that. "Fine, and you?" she answered feigning politeness.

Harleen wanted to catch her bus so she could get home and add the papers she had printed off to her scrapbook.

"I'm good, I'm good, just hoping to have a little chat with you," he told Harleen as he nodded back towards the university building.

"Alright," Harleen replied as she turned back towards the entrance. The girl couldn't think of what this could be about as her sister seemed the same as ever when they passed in the halls.

Harleen's brother stopped in front of an empty classroom and held open the door for her to enter. The girl did so and sat at the first available seat. After waiting for him to be seated she asked, "what did you want to talk about Dustin?"

Dustin looked at Harleen and sighed before answering, "mom and dad are getting divorced."

This did surprise Harleen slightly she was otherwise not concerned as she did not care what her parents did.

"And, that has to do with me how exactly?" Harleen questioned unsure of where this was going.

"Well you see, after you left, mom and dad were always fighting. Now I'm still not really sure what went on as neither mom, nor Kathrynn were in the room. Also, dad's version seems more than a little absurd," Dustin admitted sounding sheepish as he glanced over at Harleen who was trying not to look bored.

"What does dad say happened?" Harleen questioned as she tried to figure out how to end the conversation.

"He said you threw some sort of fit after calling him out on being racist. He admitted to slapping you, as he should have. But then immediately after you made it seem like he was attacking you or something. Said you threw yourself around the living room then smeared your blood all over him. Not exactly sure where he thought he'd get telling such an obviously made up story," Dustin explained in a skeptical manner.

"Are you saying he should have slapped me? Or that it was good he admitted to it?" Harleen questioned sounding off put by Dustin's wording.

"More of the second then the first," Dustin answered with a thoughtful expression.

"So, you're saying I deserved it," Harleen put forward in a hurt manner.

"Well no, it's just, god Harleen. You can't talk to people like that," Dustin tried to explain as Harleen's expression became increasingly angry.

"Like what? Like they do to people they see as being below them. I'm sorry Dustin but last I checked being discriminatory was never okay. And I don't care who it is, if they want to act like that in front of me, I will throw it right back in their faces," Harleen informed her brother as she crossed her arms in irritation.

Dustin let out an exasperated sigh at Harleen's words. "That's the thing Harleen. That's all well and good when you're an adult, kids really should keep these things to themselves," her older brother responded in a reluctant tone.

Harleen's expression changed from anger to puzzlement at what Dustin had said. "That doesn't make sense. Children need to be taught to advocate for themselves so they don't get bullied or taken advantage of. Do you have any idea how man children get sexually assaulted cause they're never taught how to say no, cause I do and it ain't pretty," the girl brought up in a tone that clearly showed she thought her brother was being ridiculous.

"I just, Harleen look. I'm not here to argue the ins and outs of children's psychology. I only brought all this up because I want you to come home," Dustin blurted out sounding frustrated.

Harleen let her surprise show on her face this time but then rapidly shifted it to one of dismay. "Why in the hell, would you want me to do that?" The girl exclaimed in a slightly alarmed way.

"Because mom's really worried about you, that's the only reason she's doing this," Dustin explained as he looked a little relieved to get back on topic. "She went absolutely nuts and tried to get the truth out of dad. She even went so far as to threaten to have him fully charged if she could. That tactic didn't work though and she seemed to give up after awhile so the fighting died down," Dustin put forward as he rested his arms on the desk in front of him.

"So why is this coming up now?" Harleen questioned as this had obviously happened a while ago.

"Well they started up again when mom found out about your transfer. You see CAS never gave much of an explanation to her so she panicked and came to all sorts of horrible conclusions," Dustin brought up then let out a wary sigh.

"Like?" Harleen questioned sounding worried.

"Like someone had attacked you, or you were being mistreated by the parents. She pretty much begged dad to get you back but he kept ignoring her whenever she did this. Eventually she confronted him and accused him of not caring about you," Dustin expanded as he rested his chin in his hand.

"What did our father say?" Harleen inquired though she had a hunch as to where this was going.

Dustin flinched a little at the memory of what he had heard. "Basically, he said he didn't care. He also said you deserved it as you clearly didn't care about any of them. He also said something along the lines of you being no child of his as you clearly didn't respect him," Dustin answered truthfully while feeling a little guilty.

Harleen had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at this news but instead faked a look of suspicion. "So, what do you want me to do about this exactly?" The girl asked with an uncertain look.

"I want you to come home. I want you to show them that you do care. That we can go back to being a family," Dustin responded in a somewhat pleading tone.

Harleen gave Dustin an offended look at the suggestion. "How in the. Why in the hell do you think that would do anything to help," the girl blurted out in an outraged manner.

"Cause it would show dad that you want to be there, and it would make mom stop worrying," Dustin brought forward as he leaned in closer.

"And why in the hell would I want to be in an environment where I have to fear for my well being?" Harleen questioned Dustin in an affronted manner. "The fact is Dustin, our father beat me. Beat me, at ten years old. And you know why he beat me. For doing the right thing and standing up to him. That's not a parent, that's a god damn person with antisocial personality disorder, and in case you don't know what that mean's, our father's a fucking psychopath," the girl explained in an agitated way.

Dustin looked very upset by what Harleen had said about their father. "You almost sound like you don't care about dad," Dustin mildly accused as he crossed his arms with a dismayed expression on his face.

"Why should I care about someone who not only blatantly insulted my friend, but also beat me for doing what was right?" Harleen inquired looking cross.

"Cause he's your father, he raised you," Dustin brought up as though this settled the matter.

"Raised me, how could he raise me when he was always working? When he so often left me in the care of our grandparents, or you yourself. He no more raised me then that desk over there," Harleen retorted sounding scandalized then she nodded at one of the desks beside them.

Dustin jumped up from his chair with an infuriated look on his face. "How dare you, don't you even care about the man that helped bring you into this world," the young man pointed out in an irritated manner.

"Why should I care about him when he so clearly doesn't care about me," Harleen put forward in a voice full of hurt as she began to fake crying.

"I umm, sis I," Dustin tried to say in an apologetic tone.

Harleen rose up from her seat with her head pointed at the ground as she continued to sob. "That's the worst god damn part, and you want me to go back there," the girl stated in a trembling voice as she looked up at Dustin. The girl then pulled in her lips and shook her head. She backed up several paces then dashed towards the door just as her brother was about to speak.

Harleen had only taken two steps when she began running full tilt away from the classroom. The girl dodged several people as she carved a haphazard path to the back of the school.

Harleen had decided to take an alternate route home rather then risk running into her brother. So, the girl walked down a small forest path that ran alongside the University and led to another bus stop.

This made it take longer for Harleen to get home but she did not mind as it gave her more time to read over the articles she had found.

The first few days of winter break Harleen filled with checking over her scrapbooks and journals. The girl was also following up on several summer job opportunities. She knew if she could secure a few more things she would be able to cover her living expenses.

Harleen was working on things to do with her becoming legally declared an adult as well. This would also mark the beginning of her drafting letters to the university to give her an age exemption for field work.

Harleen had decided to do this now as she was beginning to notice the effects of her inability to kill things. The girl knew once she was on her own she could do these things infrequently again once she had the proper equipment. She had realized though that this probably would become less satisfying after a while and thus decided to see if she could push things forward a little.

During the break Harleen spent almost no time out of her room as she did not want to be bothered in her current state.

By this time Harleen's foster parents and siblings had been conditioned by the girl to mostly leave her alone. The girl had used her psychiatry knowledge to her advantage in order to get what she wanted out of them.

Even Harleen's CAS worker had been won over by the girl's tactics.

Harleen was glad she had thought to use these simple mind games to control those she had to put up with seeing the most.

 **Hello Readers,**

 **Well here it is, the next revamped instalment. Thanks again for reading and I hope you all find the updates intriguing enough to contemplate.**

 **I also want to take this opportunity to let you all know I am writing an actual book that I plan on having published, it is going to be the first part of a series. If any of you are interested please follow me on twitter and Instagram as I will be posting info on this as well as the fanfic.**

 **I wish all of you the best till next time.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **RJ Meijers**


	5. Chapter 5: Independence

**Hello,**

 **Sorry about the late posting I have been busy with other aspects of my life these past few weeks. So here's the chapter, better late than never as they say. I trust all you readers are doing well and if not I hope things get better for you all real soon.**

 **Also don't worry this won't throw off my posting of the next chapter as I am less busy these next few days. Anyway, I hope you all find this chapter as engaging as the last few and if any of you have any interest in this or my other works please feel free to follow me on twitter and Instagram.**

 **I haven't posted much yet due to a lack of followers, that and I'm generally occupied by my family duties most days. (Having several children can be very chaotic :P.)**

 **Now with all that info out of the way please proceed as you wish. (Though I really don't even know how many of you guys even read this part honestly.)**

 **Chapter 5: Independence**

At the beginning of the next semester Pamela practically tackled Harleen when they ran into each other. "How was your break?" She asked Harleen as the younger girl extricated herself from the woman's arms.

"It was good, how bout yours?" Harleen asked as the two began to walk along.

"Good, good, got some great new plants for my greenhouse," Pamela told Harleen as they headed for the library.

Neither of them had class for another hour but Harleen always arrived early and Pamela was there to start a new Eco campaign.

As they headed towards the library Harleen looked over at Pamela and said, "Oh by the way I'm starting my apartment hunt this weekend."

Pamela looked startled at this news, Harleen had mentioned a bit about this to her just before break but hadn't confirmed anything. After confirming that her clients from last semester were still going to need her help as well as one of her professors guaranteeing her a summer job the girl knew she could maintain a place herself.

"That was quick," Pamela stated as they passed a few other students heading in the opposite direction.

"Well I just have to find apartments CAS will approve for me to live in on my own," Harleen explained as they reached the entrance to the library.

"Do you need any help?" Pamela asked as Harleen lead them into the university library.

"Unfortunately only CAS representatives are allowed to come with me to see the apartments," Harleen replied as Pamela looked crestfallen.

"Can I at least throw a housewarming party for you?" Pamela questioned sounding hopeful as they walked over to a free table.

"Alright," Harleen answered knowing Pamela would not back down till she agreed.

"Awesome, just let me know when it's convenient for you," Pamela said as she began to sit down and rummage through her bag.

It didn't take long to find a place but there was a two month waiting list. So Harleen spent the time till her move in date on her studies as well as hanging out with Pamela who insisted on taking her to every shop she knew that sold household goods.

"What's your budget for all the different things you need?" Pamela questioned as they headed out in her small car.

"I plan on buying most of this stuff second hand. Some things I know I'll have to buy new. Luckily my foster family has enough room in their basement to store most of the stuff I need to buy," Harleen put forward as the turned onto a major street.

"What are you planning to buy new?" Pamela questioned as she headed towards the business district of town.

"All my bigger furniture, anything electronic and cleaning supplies," Harleen answered as she glanced at the passing businesses.

"That's all. What about towels and dishes?" Pamela questioned in a perplexed tone.

"I can just buy those things second hand and wash them. Saves me money and effort as I'd rather go to as few places as possible and thrift stores often have multiple departments," Harleen pointed out as they stopped outside the first place which was a large scale furniture store.

"I see your point as you'd still need to wash it even if you buy it new," Pamela brought forward as the began to get out of the car.

"Exactly, and I just don't see the point in buying new when the used ones still work just as well and are a lot cheaper," Harleen stated as she closed the car door.

"I wonder if they'll have anything you'll like in here," Pamela mused as they began to walk towards the entrance.

"Only one way to find out. At the very least I can get a mattress and box spring," Harleen stated as they passed some other shoppers in the parking lot.

Inside the store were many different kinds of furniture. Harleen looked at everything that caught her eye but bought nothing. The girl did the same thing at all of the stores they went to for the first time. Once the girl had finished this she went back to the stores that had the stuff she wanted.

There were only a few thrift stores in the city and Harleen went to all of them as well.

By the time the move in date came Harleen had managed to accumulate almost everything she needed for her apartment.

John had also asked Harleen if she needed any help with moving in or unpacking. "I could pop by for a bit to help you arrange furniture," he suggested as the three of them sat around a table in the cafeteria.

"Thanks John, but I'm fine. CAS is providing helpers and I already know where I want everything to go," Harleen told John for the umpteenth time.

"Well the offers there if you need it," John stated as he pulled out his lunch.

The move in day went well until Harleen got back from grocery shopping, she couldn't find her box with the scrapbooks and journals in it. She searched her apartment frantically for it well into the evening. She then got a call on the cell phone CAS had helped her purchase just a month earlier.

"Hello," she said trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

"Hello, Harleen, it's Mrs. Memmecks, your CAS worker," the women on the other end of the phone answered.

"Oh hi, how are you?" Harleen asked trying to sound polite but feeling agitated at this interruption. She didn't know what the women could want as they had just seen each other that afternoon.

"I just got a call from the movers saying that they still have one of your boxes. Apparently, it was accidentally put in the cab and forgotten during the move," Mrs. Memmecks explained as Harleen felt her heart skip a beat at this news. "They have told me they will be dropping it off to you in the next hour, they said they will come to the porch door as you are on the first floor," she finished as Harleen sighed inwardly with relief.

A part of her was worried though, so Harleen asked, "they didn't open the box did they?"

"As far as I know they did not, make sure to call me back though to confirm it has been dropped off," Mrs. Memmecks told her as Harleen sat back on the sofa.

"Will do. Is there anything else?" Harleen inquired as she felt relief wash over her.

"No, that is all," Mrs. Memmecks answered simply.

"Well bye then," Harleen stated then hung up without waiting for the woman's reply.

An older man came up to Harleen's porch door carrying the box in his arms about thirty minutes later. She took the box from him with a quick, "thanks." The girl then locked the door after he left just in case.

Back in her bedroom Harleen opened it and to her delight it was the box she had been searching for. She now had ten scrapbooks and five journals, each one was well looked after.

One thing Harleen had bought without Pamela's help was a large vault. She had told her workers she was going to use it to safeguard her valuables as well as her research just to be safe as she was a young girl living alone on a first floor apartment. They had agreed wholeheartedly and even helped her pick out one that fit in her apartment without looking like a vault. Instead it just looked like a decorative coffee table. She stuck all of her incriminating items in it then called her worker to confirm the box had been delivered.

Harleen got up shortly after this once she realized it was almost seven and she had not eaten yet.

The next few days Harleen spent unpacking and setting up her apartment. The only other thing she did during this time was call Pamela and John to tell them her address and inform them that it may be awhile till they could do a housewarming party.

It was nearing exam time and Harleen explained how she would be to busy studying for the exams. Harleen knew this tactic would not work for very long but that it would at least give her some time to plan things out beforehand.

Getting to the university the following Monday was even easier now as Harleen's apartment was just up the street. She had chosen this building not only cause it was close to the university but because it was a very strict apartment complex. They only let in single woman and older couples with no children.

"How was your move?" John asked Harleen as he sat beside her in the library.

"It went fine. Nothing got lost or left behind and all my furniture was delivered by yesterday afternoon," Harleen answered as she typed away on her laptop.

"Good to hear. What you working on anyway?" John questioned as he leaned over to read the screen.

"Just finishing the final essay for my advanced internal medicines class," Harleen responded as she clicked open a web page.

"Any word about them letting you do the field work part?" John inquired as he knew part of why Harleen had moved was so she could do these things sooner.

"I'm waiting till I can be emancipated. Once I have that under my belt, they should be more willing to grant an exemption," Harleen brought forward as she scanned through the article in front of her.

"How long till they grant you that?" John queried as he pulled out one of his textbooks.

"Depends on how I manage myself over the next few months. The shortest amount of time apparently was four months but it can take as long as two years from what I've been able to find out," Harleen explained as she clicked back over to her paper.

"I'm guessing you're aiming for the shorter amount of time," John stated as he scanned the index for the page he wanted.

"You know it. I'm going to be hiring a good lawyer and I've already got the letters started," Harleen told John as she leaned back in her chair.

"When do you think they'll let you start if you do manage it?" John inquired in an interested tone.

"I'm planning on wording it so I can start sometime next year. I have that summer job lined up to help with everything and I'm keeping a record of all my bills and such to prove I can pay everything on time," Harleen answered then let out a worn-out sigh.

"That's a lot of work, but I know you have your own reasons for doing all this," John stated with an encouraging smile as he looked at Harleen.

"Let's just hope my efforts don't go to waste," Harleen responded as she resumed typing.

"I'll be rooting for you anyway," John replied then grabbed a notepad from his bag.

It did not take long before Harleen found the perfect lawyer for her case. While the girl knew her situation would not end up in a large scale courtroom she still wanted the best representation possible in order to move things along quickly.

Harleen also spent the first two weeks at her new place exploring several nearby forests and ravines. The girl wanted to properly scout out her new territory as well as see what kind of creatures she might be able to capture.

Once Harleen had done enough forays into the green spaces and had enough tools she set out to begin killing once again.

It started small again, with small mice she got in traps and the occasional chipmunk. Harleen liked to stick with wild animals as their corpses would be less suspicious if found, though they were often hard to catch.

By the time Harleen's exams were finished the girl had only managed to kill five animals. Though some might find this impressive it only served to annoy her as even when she killed them she still felt a little edgy afterwards.

Harleen had been living on her own for almost six weeks when she got an unexpected phone call. "Hello, Harleen?" The voice at the other end of the phone questioned sounding uncertain.

Harleen did not immediately recognize the voice as she had not heard it in years and it sounded a lot more strained than usual. "Yes, this is Harleen," she answered as she sat down on the couch.

"Hi, it's me, mom," she said sounding a little relieved.

Harleen was more than a little startled at this information but realized that her parents were probably divorced now and CAS had given her mom the number. "Hi mom," she said trying to sound cheery.

"How have you been?" her mother asked Harleen.

"I've been good," Harleen answered hoping to keep the conversation to a minimum. "How about you?" Harleen asked feigning politeness.

"Good, good, just moved to a new part of the city," she replied simply.

"Oh well, that sounds good," Harleen answered as she tried to think of some way to end the conversation.

"Ya it's nice here, just got a nice little place all to myself. It's right by my studio to which is really convenient," her mother explained as Harleen only half listened.

"That seems like it would be nice, listen mom I'm sorry but I have to go. You caught me at a bad time as I'm really caught up with work right now," Harleen told her mother sounding apologetic.

"Oh, I'm sorry I interrupted you. I was just hoping maybe we could get together for a coffee sometime or something," Harleen's mother admitted sounding hopeful.

Harleen ran her hands through her hair before answering, "I don't know mom, my schedule is pretty demanding right now." She did not want to see any members of her family if she could avoid it. At this point she had no interest in maintaining a relationship with any of them.

"Well that isn't right. You're just a child and should be allowed free time to do what you want," Harleen's mother told her sounding worried and slightly angry.

"I may be a child in body mother but unfortunately in order to keep myself maintained properly I have to work and think like an adult," Harleen retorted unable to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

"That's the problem and why I want to see you. I have a few things I want us to discuss and it feels very callous to do it over the phone," the older woman stated beginning to sound annoyed herself.

Harleen held in a sigh as she thought her mother was wasting her time. "Like I said I'm to busy at the moment. When I can find the time I'll phone you and arrange things. Now if you'll excuse me I have work to do," she retorted finally losing her patient, she then hung up the phone before her mom could reply.

It had been two weeks since that conversation and Harleen's mother had been calling her nonstop. Harleen had left her phone on silent after the second day so she would not be bothered while she worked. Finally she called her CAS worker to inform her of the issue.

"She just won't stop calling, I know my father and her have been divorced now but I'm just not ready to see her yet," Harleen lied as her worker listened patiently.

Mrs. Memmecks sighed a little before answering, "I'm sorry to hear that. We had hoped since it was your father who was presenting with the issues maybe you would still want contact with your mother once he was no longer a factor."

"I understand that but it's not like she tried to help me while I was still there. I just want her to stop calling me, it's interfering with my work and I'm afraid she might try and find out where I live or show up at the school at this rate," Harleen explained sounding worried.

"I understand your concern and we'll get this sorted out as soon as we can," Mrs. Memmecks told Harleen in a reassuring voice.

"Thank you very much," Harleen replied sounding relieved.

"You're welcome, good bye," Mrs. Memmecks said before hanging up the phone.

It took almost another week for the phone calls from her mother to stop. It did not help that Harleen was now waiting for calls from her lawyer about when her case would appear in court.

"I finally got a date for ya," Harleen's lawyer said to her after they greeted each other.

"When is it?" Harleen asked as she grabbed a pen and a piece of paper.

"It's June 10th at 9am," the woman told Harleen as the girl wrote down the date.

"Alright, got it," Harleen answered as she set down the pen. "That's a lot sooner then I thought it would be," the girl noticed sounding relieved. "And thanks again Mrs. Capobver," she thanked the woman in a grateful tone.

"You're quite welcome. Also, that wasn't the case originally, originally it was going to be set for late August. A friend of mine though had to cancel her spot for the day so I put in as wanting to take the slot. I beat the competition by showing them all the payment logs you sent me as evidence," Mrs. Capobver informed Harleen in a happy sounding voice.

"Well I'm glad my hard work payed off," Harleen replied as she leaned back on her couch.

"Mhmm, just keep this up and we'll get this no later then the second trial," Mrs. Capobver reassured Harleen as she shifted the papers on her desk.

"I'm aiming for that first date thanks," Harleen replied with a bit of a chuckle.

"Take it from me kiddo, nobody ever gets it the first shot," Mrs. Capobver warned Harleen in a practical tone.

"Then all I can say to you Mrs. Capobver is sit back and watch me prove you wrong," Harleen put forward in a confident manner.

"Ha, I look forward to it. Unfortunately, I gotta get back to things here," Mrs. Capobver told Harleen as she picked up her pen.

"Kay, I'll let you go then, bye," Harleen responded then took the phone away from her ear.

"Bye," Mrs. Capobver stated then hung up the phone.

Harleen set her phone down on the couch beside her then leaned her head back and let out a long sigh.

Now that Harleen knew the date she would begin sending along the other items she had to strengthen her case. The girl knew to do this little by little over the next few weeks so that she would not overwhelm her lawyer.

The Monday after her last exam was the start of her summer job. It was a huge job being done not only by her but fifty other students, they said it would take up the whole summer and may even lead into the fall semester.

Harleen was one of the few students who were contracted to work till late October. She had requested this just to be safe as she wasn't sure exactly when her clients would need her services again. She was already the top requested tutor on campus though.

Now Harleen had another issue to attend to, she still had not arranged things for the housewarming party. She decided to have it on her birthday just so Pamela would not come up with another excuse to come visit.

When she told Pamela the plan the women groaned and replied, "but that's so far away."

"Well I told you I was busy, plus this way we can celebrate both and you don't have to spend so much money on presents," she replied trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

"You have to be the most frugal person I know," Pamela told her sounding exasperated.

"Kinda have to be considering I'm supporting myself and going to University," she answered as she rolled her eyes.

"I know, it's just, it takes the fun out of everything," she stated sounding slightly whiney.

"Well sorry I'm not fun. There are more important things in life," she informed her friend pretending to sound hurt.

"I-I'm sorry, I just," she began sounding apologetic at Harleen's sudden change in tone.

"Wasn't thinking," Harleen stated finishing Pamela's sentence with a sigh.

"Yes well, I'm sorry. I forget how much you have to do in order to live on your own. It's just it's been so long since we've done anything together," she explained with disappointment.

"What about all that shopping we did together," Harleen answered as she opened her laptop.

"That was over a two ago and we haven't seen each other since," Pamela replied as she shifted the phone to her other ear.

"Well like I said I'm really busy right now. The cataloging is taking a lot more time than they originally estimated. They predict now it may cause issues come next semester as we haven't even finished a quarter of it yet," she explained to her friend as she nestled her head in her hand which was resting upon her knee.

"Can't they just hire more staff" Pamela asked sounding worried.

"They are, the problem is a lot of the students have gone elsewhere for the summer and any one from an outside source is a higher theft risk. The other problem is ten people have either left or been fired. There are still also a lot of people who aren't bothering to do the job right or are slacking off as well. The only ones interested in getting this job done aside from myself is about a dozen, which isn't nearly enough to meet the deadlines," she stated all this quickly as she leaned back on the couch.

"I would help but I'm going on that trip soon," Pamela said sounding regretful.

"You mentioned you were going to Brazil for your research right?" Harleen asked pretending to sound interested.

"Ya I'm hoping to learn about the new plants they've been discovering in the deeper parts of the rainforest," Pamela replied as the tone in her voice brightened.

As Pamela chatted on about her plans for her three-week long trip Harleen looked up new articles on Him. She had just picked up a new scrapbook for her work. The articles she found mostly stated that no one knew who he was. By now there was a lot of speculation but no actual information was known except for his aliases and the crimes he had committed since that first bank robbery that she had been a part of.

All this speculation and probing into his past made Harleen glad that she was under CAS protection. No one could find her due to the fact that her identity and address were now both protected and with her family split up that would throw things off even more.

Harleen's looks had changed a lot since then as well. Her hair was waist length and she often wore it up in a bun to keep it out of the way. Her clothing choices were slightly less baggy and she often dressed professionally as she hated being treated like a child.

Harleen's body was also showing more of the effects of puberty, she thanked the gods that her skin didn't blemish easily and that she had gained several inches in height over the past few years. She was beginning to look like a woman, though she knew she still had a few more years before she was one.

She did find it odd though that there did not seem to be any information on That Man prior to the bank robbery that day. It was as though he just popped into existence the moment he walked into the bank. Like he was born into the world exactly as she saw him that day, no growth, no transformation, just a manifestation of what she knew to be true of everyone. Harleen was rather pleased with this lack of insight; she did not need to know about his past.

All Harleen needed to know about was his present and that she would be part of his future. No matter what she had to be with him, to know everything about him from the moment he came into existence for her.

Just as Harleen was finishing printing off the new papers she realized Pamela was finally finished talking. "You know I just want to see what it's really like in all that nature,' she stated sounding excited.

"Well that does sound fun, but I really do need to get back to work. I'll see you on my birthday Pamela," Harleen told her bringing the conversation to a close.

"Right see you then," Pamela answered sounding thrown off by this abrupt statement as Harleen hung up the phone.

Harleen court date finally arrived and she even made sure to arrive a good hour early in order to ensure she had everything in order.

Mrs. Capobver met Harleen in a small meeting room thirty minutes before the trial.

"I almost needed two briefcases today thanks to you," Mrs. Capobver told Harleen in a slightly teasing manner.

"Sorry about that. I did tell you I wanted this done on the first shot though," Harleen reminded Mrs. Capobver in an apologetic tone.

Mrs. Capobver gave Harleen a dismissive wave. "It's not a big deal. Just thought it was funny is all. And besides there is the saying it never hurts to be prepared. I do hope you're able to get it on the first go though. Cause if there is a second trial I really will need two suitcases," the woman pointed out in a wise voice.

It took nearly two hours for the judge to go over all the information packages which Mrs. Capobver had neatly arranged. When she finished the judge looked over at Harleen with an appraising gaze.

"It seems to me young lady that you have shown great responsibility even from a young age. You manage your money well, have outstanding grades and a very noble dream. And as there is no opposition I see no reason to not grant you your request," The woman summarized as she peered down at Harleen.

Harleen felt held by the judges words but also hopeful as she had said nothing negative.

"So, by the power vested in me by the state of New Jersey I hear by grant you your adult hood with only three exceptions. The first is that you can not drive until you are sixteen and the second is you still can not buy or consume alcohol or tobacco until you are twenty-one. Lastly you can not own a gun until you are eighteen," the judge explained as Harleen held back a smile.

This was exactly the result Harleen had wanted. The girl could care less about smoking and drinking and as for the gun and car thing she had been expecting that.

Now though she could begin investing her money as well as putting her stock market knowledge to the test.

"Well I'll be damned," Mrs. Capobver said as they stepped out of the court house. "Way to beat the record there," the woman praised Harleen as the girl turned to face her.

"Mhmm, just like I said," Harleen replied in a cheerful tone.

"Well, I'm glad you got what you wanted. All the paperwork and such will be sent along in the next couple of weeks," Mrs. Capobver told Harleen as the girl resisted the urge to dance.

"That's good, and thanks again," Harleen answered as she crossed her arms behind her back.

"You're quite welcome. If I don't see you again I hope you have a good life from now on," Mrs. Capobver stated as she turned to go back into the courthouse.

"Same to you, bye," Harleen responded then gave Mrs. Capobver a little wave.

"Goodbye Harleen," Mrs. Capobver replied then walked back into the building.

Once home Harleen leaped for joy and tried to touch the ceiling. Even crouching down really far Harleen was still a good foot and a half from reaching it.

When the date of the party arrived Harleen made sure to clean her place as well as hide anything incriminating. She knew both of them would probably want to stay over as John had already insisted on a movie marathon and Pamela said she knew this great delivery place but it was only open after ten at night.

John brought over nothing but superhero movies, apparently a lot more had come out since the last ones she watched with him. They all sat in silence watching till Pamela suddenly realized it was almost eleven and urgently called the delivery place. Most of the menu items were either deep fried or stuff Harleen never heard of. After trusting Pamela to order the food Harleen went to the washroom.

It took almost forty five minutes for the delivery guy to get there, apparently the place was on the other side of the city. The food was good but seemed a little odd to Harleen, she had a realization though that this stuff was probably what they called drunk food. She didn't much care for being introduced to this stuff at fourteen.

"Oh ya I got something to tell you guys," Harleen brought up as she bit into another deep fried vegetable.

"Mmm, what's that?" Pamela inquired after swallowing a large mouthful.

"I am now officially an adult. My last piece of I.D arrived yesterday," Harleen told them proudly as she grabbed a napkin.

"Wow, that's great," John congratulated Harleen with a happy smile on his face.

"That was such a short period of time," Pamela pointed out sounding perplexed.

"I got lucky, apparently my lawyer managed to get an earlier slot her friend had to drop," Harleen told them as John got up to switch the movie.

"Are there any restrictions?" John questioned in an interested manner as he put the movie back in its case.

"I can't drive till I'm sixteen. I can't own a gun until I'm eighteen. And I can't consume or purchase alcohol or tobacco until I'm twenty-one," Harleen listed as she glanced over at John.

"That's a pretty good deal all things considered," John responded as he put the new movie in.

"I'm just glad I got it so quickly," Harleen replied as she grabbed a soft-shell taco.

As she had predicted they both stayed the night and were both passed out on her couches when she woke up that morning. Pamela had wanted her to sleep out in the living room with them but Harleen shut her down by saying she was unable to fall asleep on couches. Pamela was more than a little disappointed by this but decided not to argue for once. Harleen was relieved when they left late in the morning and she could get back to her usual routine.

It was a week before classes were set to start and Harleen was working in her corner of the computer room as usual. She had three computers she was using to input the information. One to check that the references were all correct, one to enter all of the information and another to check and see of it uploaded correctly. She was sitting there squinting to read the text on the screen, lately it was becoming harder and harder to read up close.

She was just about to check several entries she uploaded when she heard her teacher speak from behind her, "hey Harleen, how's the work going?"

Hiding her annoyance at being interrupted she replied, "fine so far today. The systems haven't crashed at all like last week." The previous week the computers kept going down until Harleen herself had to go in and reset the system. Most of the information was already backed up elsewhere so it only delayed the process slightly.

"That's good to hear," her professor said as she took a seat next to Harleen. "Listen Harleen, I have a favour to ask," she stated looking over at the girl as she scanned the entry she had made once more.

"Which is," Harleen questioned sounding interested.

"I was wondering if you could stay on for this job until winter break," her professor replied as she noticed Harleen was struggling to read the computer screen.

Harleen was not surprised by this offer, they were still really behind on the database entries. She sat up and sighed a little before answering, "I'd love to professor Kift but I have my tutoring clients to think about as well."

"I realize, it's just, you're one of the few actually committed to doing this job properly, also we would just want you for a few hours a week not all day every day like this," she explained sounding hopeful.

Harleen thought about this before replying, "I can do Sundays for a while but I may have to end that agreement early depending on my workload this year." She looked over at her professor who looked pleased with this response.

"Great, I'll write up a contract for you that states you may end the employment at any time without penalty as long as you submit a letter explaining your reasons. Sound good?" Professor Kift asked as she stood up.

"That should be fine," Harleen agreed as she looked back at the computer screen.

"Also I notice you seem to be having trouble seeing the computer screens lately, you may need to look into reading glasses," the professor suggested with a kind smile.

"Ya I was considering taking some time this Saturday to take a look into that," she explained as she opened a new window on one of the computer screens.

"That's good. Just let me know if you need anything," her professor said as she turned around and headed towards the door.

The first day back for the new semester went just as predictably as her first day there last year. It wasn't until she went for lunch after her only class that day in the morning that she finally caught a break.

She had agreed to meet up with Pamela and John that afternoon as neither of them had seen her since her birthday.

"How have you been?" Pamela asked as Harleen sat down next to her.

"Good, just busy. I've been asked to stay on and help with the database input until winter break," she explained as she began to pull her lunch out of her bag.

Pamela looked surprised by this as Harleen had not said anything about this to her. "Oh, when did they ask you to do that?" She questioned as she to took out her lunch.

"Just last week. We kept having server crashes. I had to go in and reset the whole system, luckily we had most of the information on a backup server," she told her friend before taking a sip of her water.

"Sounds like they need to do some updating," Pamela said as John sat down across from them.

"You have no idea," Harleen replied sounding exasperated.

"You could always write up a proposal to ask for more funding for such things. I'm sure coming from you it wouldn't meet any opposition," John said before stuffing a slice of orange into his mouth.

"I don't have time for that unfortunately. I am working every evening plus weekends on the database until the end of October and then I have my tutoring duties once my clients start needing me again. At least after October I'm only there once a week and only until I can't handle it anymore," she expanded as she unwrapped a sandwich.

"Isn't that a little much," Pamela said looking at Harleen with concern. "What about getting some you time and sleep for that matter?" She asked with worry.

"I get that time on Saturday's. I already know enough about self-care to recognize how much I need and when I am getting overwhelmed," she answered then took another bite of her sandwich.

"Alright, well just be careful not to overdo it," Pamela said as she finally started to eat her lunch.

"I will," Harleen reassured her giving Pamela a small smile.

It was early October when Harleen's sister approached her looking serious. "I need to talk to you," she stated failing to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

"What about?" Harleen asked sounding interested.

"Come on let's find an empty room," her sister said turning away and beginning to walk up the hallway.

Harleen wondered what this could be about as she walked silently along behind her sister. Kathrynn had not spoken to her or contacted her in any way since the incident ended last year. They reached an empty classroom and much like her brother Kathrynn held open the door for Harleen to enter.

After being seated Kathrynn looked right at Harleen and said, "you need to phone mom."

This caught Harleen a little off guard, she had completely forgotten about her mother bothering her during the spring. "Why is that?" She asked Kathrynn sounding curious.

Kathrynn sighed and leaned forward before answering, "she's worried about you, really worried. She wants to see you and try and reconcile. None of us are living with her right now as her place is to small. But she calls me and Nathan all the time to try and see if we can talk to you since she's not even allowed near you at the moment." Kathrynn looked really worried, after all she had been closest with their mother.

Harleen thought about all of this before explaining, "I'll talk with her. Can you tell her to meet me in the local botanical garden on the fifteenth of October at 11am. I would phone her myself but unblocking her number would take too much time and I'm very busy with work at the moment."

"Thank you," her sister said with a sigh then left the room.

The day of the meeting arrived all too quickly for Harleen's liking. Part of her wanted to just skip out but she knew that dealing with this now would be better than letting things stew for longer.

Her mother greeted her cheerily at the entrance to the botanical garden. She happily told Harleen all about her coworkers' antics as the two walked through the gardens and admired all the different plants. They then sat down on one of the benches for a short rest when her mother looked over at her with a slightly more serious expression.

"I wanted to talk to you about a few things," she stated with an air of importance.

"Okay," Harleen replied looking at her mother.

"I want us to get a place together and for you to reduce your work hours," she stated sounding stern.

Harleen held in a sigh and replied, "I'm sorry mother but I can do neither of those things."

"You certainly can. Unlike your father I do not hold such views and besides you should be able to have enough time to be a kid for once," she explained looking hurt at Harleen's response.

At these words Harleen couldn't help but laugh. Her mother looked rather outraged by this reaction. "Mom, I have never been a child in the traditional sense of the word, plus I am no longer in the age range for such foolishness," she explained as her mother sat there looking upset.

"How can you say that, you're only fourteen and besides I don't like how much that school works you. They're taking advantage of your kind nature," her mother retorted sounding angry.

"I'm choosing to work this much, I'm choosing to be where I am. I have no interest in taking part in adolescent whims. Besides I'm fine where I am and with how things are," Harleen stated hoping this would end the discussion.

"Well I'm not alright with it at all," the older women snapped at her with outrage.

"That's your problem, not mine mother," she said simply purposely sounding callous.

At these words her mother started to cry then said, "why can you not understand. I just want to go back to being your mom."

Harleen was quickly losing her patience with her mother and decided to try a sure-fire way to end this discussion as well as any further contact attempts by her mother.

"Oh really," Harleen responded in sarcastic outrage. "Last I checked you were never even close to being a mother to me," the girl pointed out in a mocking tone.

"What do you mean?" Harleen's mother questioned sounding thrown off by her daughter's sudden change in attitude.

"Hmm, where do I start?" Harleen mused as she purposely allowed her voice to become more high pitched. "Leaving me with my grandparents almost all the time from the time I was one. Having them or my siblings constantly watching me even on weekends," the girl put forward in an annoyed manner.

"Harleen I never meant to," her mother tried to begin but then the girl cut her short.

"Meant to what, be so absorbed in your career that you forgot about your youngest daughter," Harleen made obvious in a disgusted sounding voice.

"Look, I'm sorry, it's, I," Harleen's mother tried to get out but was lost for words.

"The fact is mother you spent maybe 2% of my life with me if that, and most of that was probably either you putting me to bed or tacking me somewhere. So, I'd say 2% is being generous," Harleen explained in an irritated way.

"I just umm," the woman tried to get out as she quivered from being upset.

"And then you did the worst thing of all," Harleen began in a low voice. "You left me alone with that bastard," the girl yelped out in a dismayed tone. "And I will never forgive you for that," she finished as she faced her mother with tears swimming in her eyes.

Before the woman could say anything though Harleen stood up and ran off.

It did not take Harleen long to get home as she made sure to catch the first bus that she could. Once home Harleen paced her apartment in agitation after what she had just done.

The conversation had left her irritated and jumpy. She felt wound up again, the feeling bothered her as she knew of only one way to get rid of it. That evening she went into the forest to kill again.

She brought along with her a cat that she had befriended in her neighbourhood. She knew the cat was a stray because when she first spotted it was rail thin and very vicious. She befriended it though just for this purpose.

Harleen had never killed a cat before as most of the ones she saw seemed well looked after and she couldn't have a pattern of lost pets popping up in the places where she lived. This cat worked perfectly for her purposes though as no one owned it and she had managed to befriend it enough to get it in the carrier.

The cat mewed in an annoyed tone at being confined. Harleen simultaneously opened the cage and stuck her hand in grabbing the back of its neck. She then held it tightly as she tied its limbs, she wanted to keep the animal alive for as long as possible. She even tied a muzzle around its face just to be extra safe.

Harleen began first by taking it's claws off one by one. The cat yowled in pain each time and tried feverishly to get away. After removing all of the claws she moved onto it's eyes. This was a bit harder as the cat kept twisting away from her. The process of slowly taking the animal apart calmed her as nothing else would. Even after the animal stopped moving she kept on with her work carefully separating each organ and laying it aside for later disposal. Once she was satisfied with her work she began cleaning up, by the time she had finished it was almost entirely dark out. She made her way out of the forest easily having traversed the path many times before.

Once home Harleen showered and then made herself a cup of tea. That had felt better than she expected. Often times she would kill the animals a lot quicker than that because of the risk of rabies. She always wore protective gear then buried it along with all the other evidence in holes she dug through out the deeper parts of the woods. Harleen couldn't wait till she was able to start proper field work and could work with cadavers for a bit. She knew it would not be the same but she hoped it would at least be something.

Harleen returned to school the following Monday feeling better than she had in awhile. She felt refreshed and ready for the day, she had not felt that in a while. It occurred to her that maybe killing animals the way she had been just was not doing it for her anymore.

Harleen had her head down and was walking along the hallway contemplating all this when someone suddenly stopped in front of her. Harleen stopped just short of running into them and looked up. It was Kathrynn standing on front of her and she looked furious.

Next thing Harleen knew her sister had slapped her across the face. Harleen stumbled back startled from the blow as she felt pain for the first time in a long time. The blow stung and was already starting to throb as her sister yelled at her, "how could you say those things to mom?"

Luckily for Harleen the corridor was empty as it was near the end of the day. "I have no time for this Kathrynn," she stated as she turned around to take a different route to the computer lab.

Instead of leaving Harleen alone though Kathrynn sprinted up behind her and tried to grab her by the arm. Harleen easily side stepped her sister and the older girl went stumbling forward and almost fell flat on her face.

"As I said Kathrynn, I have no time for this," Harleen said once more as she again turned and proceeded to walk the way she had been going before.

"How can you say that? How can you say you don't even have time for your own family?" Kathrynn hollered at Harleen sounding outraged.

Harleen turned to look at Kathrynn before answering coldly, "last I checked you didn't want me to be part of your family."

Kathrynn let out a loud exclamation of frustration before turning and stalking off.

When Harleen got to the computer lab the usual staff was there doing the same job she was.

One of the other young women looked up to greet Harleen but instead asked sounding shocked, "what happened to you face?"

Harleen had not thought about this as she just wanted to get the job done for the night then head home to document the damage done to her cheek. Part of her knew there would be a mark but she figured most of it would fade within a few minutes as the pain had also subsided to a dull throb very quickly.

"I tripped and fell into one of the coffee tables," Harleen lied easily as she walked over to her usual station.

The other girl walked over to Harleen and made a closer inspection of the mark. "You should put ice on it, it will help reduce the pain and swelling," she commented as she closely examined the spot on Harleen's cheek.

"I already know that Angela. It doesn't hurt much though so I'm not worried about it. It managed to miss my teeth so I'll be fine. Just might get a slight bruise for a while," Harleen explained as Angela stood over her looking concerned.

Angela sighed before replying, "alright, just be more careful next time. Don't want to permanently damage your face after all."

Harleen shrugged before saying, "in this day and age I would hope my brains are more important than my looks." She then began to open the programs she would need for her work.

Angela laughed a little at this statement and shook her head. "I know what you mean, but unfortunately looks do still matter in a lot of cases where they shouldn't," she replied sounding a little exhausted.

"Luckily for me it will still be a while before I have to worry about all that stuff and hopefully by then things will have changed," Harleen stated as she took out her reading glasses.

"Societal norms can take quite some time to change last I checked," Angela said as she walked back over to her station.

"Well that may be true, but it is happening," Harleen responded as she began to type.

"Ya, let's just hope things keep changing for the better," Angela replied as she sat back in her chair and stretched her arms.

"Hear, hear," cried the other students in the room.

Things progressed as usual for Harleen as the semester went on. As her tutoring demands rose she found it harder and harder to keep doing the database work. It was three weeks before the winter break when she turned in her letter of resignation so she could focus on tutoring her clients as well as her own studies.

 **And Goodbye,**

 **Well with this chapter over I just want to say I look forward to your reactions to my next chapter. That and I really did mean what I said up top.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **RJ Meijers**


	6. Chapter 6: Cannot Cope

**Hello Dear Readers,**

 **I am sorry once again for the late posting this week. I honestly just gaped it and I regret this. Also, my family and I were very busy today which is why I am posting at this late hour of day.**

 **(Trigger Warning) Though it is not graphic there is the aftermath of a rape described here in. (Trigger Warning)**

 **Once again I anticipate you will all find this chapter as captivating as the previous ones. I do hope that all of you are at a good time in your life. Also feel free to message me any questions you may have about the story.**

 **Thanks for reading and have an oddly delightful day.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **RJ Meijers**

 **Chapter 6: Cannot Cope**

Once winter break came Harleen felt some relief knowing that she had three whole weeks before she had to worry about things again. The girl had no plans for the holidays but was just glad for the time away from everyone.

It was Christmas Eve and Harleen had decided to go for an evening stroll as it was not as cold as usual that day.

As Harleen walked along the path out of the apartment complex she heard voices ahead of her. She intended to keep walking until she recognized one of the speakers. It was Pamela, Harleen thought this odd as the woman had never mentioned knowing anyone else in the complex aside from her.

Harleen glanced down the pathway to the open porch door Pamela was standing in front of. She was talking to another woman who sounded quite cheerful. The conversation suddenly ended and then Harleen noticed them kissing one another. The kiss was not the type shared between friends or family members. After they broke apart Pamela turned around as the other women closed the door quietly behind her. She noticed Harleen standing there looking surprised.

At first Pamela said nothing then suddenly uttered trying to sound cheery, "hi Harleen."

Harleen walked up to Pamela before replying, "hello."

"What are up to this fine evening?' Pamela asked Harleen trying to sound calm even though Harleen could see the alarm in her eyes.

"Just going for an evening stroll," Harleen answered with a small shrug with a bored expression on her face.

"Oh, mind if I join you?" Pamela questioned sounding slightly panicky as she stuck her hands in her jacket pockets.

"It's fine with me," Harleen stated then began to walk towards the gate to leave the apartment complex.

It was a few minutes before either of them spoke. "Umm, about what you just saw," Pamela began sounding more than a little worried.

"Pamela, it honestly doesn't bother me if you have a girlfriend," Harleen stated before the other women could finish her sentence.

"Oh well then, that's good," Pamela replied in a surprised tone.

Harleen though it only polite to ask some light questions to show acceptance. "How long have you been dating? If you don't mind my asking," Harleen inquired as they passed an oddly dressed older gentlemen.

"Almost six months," Pamela replied as she glanced up at the starry sky in contemplation.

"I'm assuming she's nice," Harleen put forward as she to looked up at the stars.

"Very actually, she's the best girlfriend I've had so far. My mom absolutely loves her," Pamela answered sounding happy but nervous.

"That's nice. It's always good when parents are accepting of those things," Harleen responded as she watched a car over take them.

"Mhmm, though she was a little alarmed the first time I brought a girl home," Pamela mentioned as she glanced at the same car.

"I'm guessing you never came out to her," Harleen put forward as she fidgeted with a receipt in her pocket.

"Nope, never really felt the need to with her honestly," Pamela responded as loud music could be heard coming from the house they were passing.

"That must have been nice. I've only heard and read about the bad reactions," Harleen replied as she recalled her own fathers' prejudice with some bitterness.

"I know what you mean. Luckily, she explained things to my dad though they're divorced now," Pamela brought up as she glanced over at Harleen.

"Mine are as well," Harleen chimed in with a dismissive shrug.

Unsure of how to continue the conversation the two continued to walk in silence for some time before Harleen decided it was time for her to head home. "Well this is where I leave you," she told Pamela as she stopped suddenly.

Pamela had stopped slightly in front of Harleen and glanced back before replying, "okay then." She then walked on as the girl turned around to walk the other way.

As time went on and Harleen settled into things she wondered how long it would take her to reach her goal. She was already drafting a letter to allow her some field experience within the next year. She was only asking for the stuff that did not involve live patients.

Even though Harleen was training to be a criminal psychiatrist she would also need to have all the basic medical knowledge. The girl did not want to waste her time on such things as she wanted to focus on getting psychiatric experience to enter her preferred place of work as soon as possible.

Recently they had announced that they would be opening a new facility for the people they were labeling super criminals. In the last few years things had gotten very bad in the city. Only since the masked vigilante had shown up had things begun to improve. There was a lot of speculation though that he was the leading cause of this new more ferocious wave of crooks.

Harleen had already drawn her own conclusions about the masked vigilante as well as the other more well-known crime bosses who had popped up over the last few years. All of them were vermin in her eyes, she wanted nothing more than to eliminate them for That Man's sake.

Harleen's semester so far had been uneventful aside from having to go to several meetings with the board of directors in order to get her exemption to start her field training. After thoroughly explaining her reasoning for this they had agreed only on the condition that she practice on cadavers and pretend scenarios with her colleagues at her placement.

Harleen then applied to several of the local hospitals with help from her professors. Her placement was to be a paid internship position and was set for when the semester ended.

It was now early march and the snow had finally started to melt. Harleen was walking across the inner courtyard to get to one of her classes quickly when she noticed her sister was walking towards her.

Harleen's sibling was a mess. Kathrynn's hair was unkempt, her clothes were not coordinated at all and she wore no makeup. All of this was highly odd for her sister who always insisted on being at the height of fashion.

A small part of Harleen wondered what could have caused this change but then the answer was suddenly shoved at her as Kathrynn stopped suddenly in front of her.

Kathrynn stood there for a moment before handing Harleen a small black envelope then she walked off without a word.

Harleen entered the building and took off her gloves before opening the letter. It was a funeral invitation, her mother had passed away. She was a little shocked at this as there had been no other communication from any of her family members since her sister had slapped her. A part of her wondered vaguely what happened but she had more important things to worry about. She pocketed the card then proceeded to her afternoon lecture.

It was a few days later that Harleen remembered about the funeral and that was only because she found the card as she slipped on her spring jacket. The weather had gotten cold again after that first nice day and only now was it warming up again. She checked the date on the card just to see, she had no intention of going.

Harleen had no interest in such things thinking them just a waste of time as the person was already dead. The girl knew this would probably further upset Kathrynn but she decided to deal with that issue when it arose.

Harleen was getting ready for a series of interviews at the hospitals she had applied to. The girl had all of her paperwork and clothing ready to go. She knew she must be perfect, must be the only one for the job.

Setting off for her first of five interviews that week Harleen walked swiftly to the largest of the hospitals in the city. The girl wanted to work at this one the most as it had the best trained staff as well as the largest volume of patients.

Harleen knew where in the hospital she was going as the secretary had given her the directions the previous week. Now as she walked along part of her wondered vaguely how many people used the hallway she was going down. It looked older than the rest of the hospital and so far she had run into no one.

Just as Harleen was thinking she may be lost someone walked into the hallway from a side door.

He looked even more out of place then Harleen felt. He was wearing a full suit and had his black hair slicked back. Even the man's shoes were polished to a high sheen which reflected the overhead lights. His attire was more suited to a fancy dinner party then a hospital.

As the two approached one another the man stopped and asked Harleen sounding concerned, "are you lost?"

A small part of Harleen felt relieved at the question. As he had gotten closer she had noted more about him. He had very broad shoulders and was obviously hiding a well-built body under the overly fancy suit he wore. His features would probably have been considered attractive by most people but such things did not interest her.

After considering all this quickly Harleen to stopped and stood in front of him. "I think I might be," Harleen answered sounding slightly apologetic.

"I thought that might be the case, very few people use this old hallway," he said with a small chuckle. "Where are you trying to go?" He questioned sounding curious.

At this Harleen showed him the small map she had drawn as well as the office number. He looked the map over quickly then looked back at her with slight concern.

"I can take you there, but may I ask what your business is here today?" he inquired sounding a little stern.

"I have an interview today for a paid internship," Harleen replied with a questioning look she wondered shy this man thought it appropriate to ask such questions.

"You look a little young to be working here," he said with skepticism.

"This interview had been specially set up for me by the University," Harleen explained as she pulled her student card out of her pocket. "I assure you I may be young but I am fully qualified for the position," she stated sounding slightly annoyed at the man's disbelief as he had not so much as introduced himself and was acting like he owned the place.

"May I see your recommendation papers," he asked Harleen holding out his hand with an air of importance.

"I'm sorry but I don't even know who you are, so no you cannot," Harleen told him forcefully as she backed away a little. The girl was beginning to lose her patient with this man and was thinking of walking past him.

Before Harleen could do that though he chuckled slightly and replied, "sorry for upsetting you that wasn't my intention, I am Bruce Wayne." The man then pulled out his wallet as well as a business card. He showed the girl his drivers' licence and birth certificate and then he handed her the business card.

Harleen stood there stunned for a minute before she stammered, "I-I am so sorry, I d-didn't." The girl then glanced down at the card having been truly caught off guard for the first time in a while.

Bruce held up his hand at her apology and said, "it's alright, I mean what are the odds of meeting someone like me in a place like this." He then put his wallet back in his pocket.

Harleen handed over her papers to him before he could say anything else. As Harleen stood there and Mr. Wayne looked over her papers she was thankful she had decided to arrive very early to her interview. Once he finished looking through her folder he handed it back to her.

"Well that all seems to be in order. I'll take you to the office now," Mr. Wayne said as Harleen stood there mutely.

"That's alright, you can just give me new directions," Harleen suggested as she looked up at Mr. Wayne feeling slightly embarrassed.

"It's fine, I have a meeting near there soon anyway," Mr. Wayne explained as he began walking back the way he came. "What's your name by the way?" The man asked Harleen as the two entered one of the main hallways.

"Harleen Quinzel," she replied as people stared at them as they passed.

Mr. Wayne simply nodded and continued to walk on towards their destination with Harleen following closely behind. The girl could not believe she was being walked to her interview by the richest man in the city. Couldn't believe that she was walking just behind the very man who owned this hospital.

They arrived at the office rather sooner than Harleen had expected, she had been so lost in thought that she nearly bumped into Mr. Wayne as he stopped just outside the door.

"Well here we are," Mr. Wayne informed Harleen as he turned around to look at her with an encouraging smile on his face.

"Thank you so much," Harleen said sounding as grateful as possible. The girl had finally gotten over her shock and was back to playing nice.

Bruce chuckled slightly at Harleen's response before saying, "no need to thank me Ms. Quinzel." He then extended his hand to shake hers.

"P-please you don't have to address me so formally," Harleen told Mr. Wayne as she quickly shook his hand.

"Well I'll have to once you start working here, well bye for now," Mr. Wayne said quickly then walked off before Harleen could say anything else.

Harleen glanced at her phone before entering the room and breathed a sigh of relief, she still had fifteen minutes before the interview started. The girl informed the secretary inside why she was there and then took a seat.

The interview went well, and on the way home that afternoon Harleen hoped she would get in. The girl knew it was unlikely and that one of the smaller hospitals was more practical but the possibility was still there.

So Harleen was very surprised when she got a call just after four that afternoon from her interviewer telling her she had got the position as well as her start date. After thanking the woman profusely before hanging up the phone she thought of running into Bruce Wayne and wondered if all this was his doing.

That evening Harleen phoned the other hospitals and canceled her interviews for the week explaining to them that she had already been offered a spot.

The attire Harleen would require for the job was much different than anything she owned. The girl had never worn scrubs before and did not know how to shop for them. Harleen decided to call up Pamela and ask for help with this.

"You want help with what?" Pamela asked sounding more than a little surprised at Harleen's request.

"I want your help shopping for work clothes," Harleen explained again as she grabbed a glass out of her cupboard.

"Okay, when were you planning on going and what type of clothes are we talking about here?" Pamela questioned further still sounding skeptical

"I have some free time two weekends from now on the Saturday, and I need to buy scrubs," Harleen answered as she grabbed ice cubes and juice out of her refrigerator.

"Oh well that time works, but why do you need help buying scrubs? From what I know they're all pretty much the same," Pamela inquired as Harleen removed ice cubes from the tray and deposited them in her glass.

"Well I don't know how they're supposed to fit. The hospital said to make sure they're not excessively baggy because of the department I'm working in but I'm not sure what they mean by that. I just don't want to call them back over such a trivial thing," Harleen explained as she headed towards her couch with the drink.

Pamela sighed then answered sounding slightly amused, "alright I'll come but under one condition."

Harleen sat back on her couch before asking, "which is?'

"We also look for a proper bra for you," Pamela stated quickly as Harleen choked on her drink a little.

After coughing quite a bit she enquired still gasping slightly, "why do we have to do that?"

"Because you're getting to the age where you need one. Plus if you're working with cadavers do you really want all the gunk from it to get on your boobs," Pamela expanded as Harleen tried to think of a way to get out of this part of the trip.

"Ya and I don't want to waste money on something that has no purpose except to make my breasts have a certain shape to them when under a shirt," Harleen retorted sounding annoyed.

"Well how bout we just look, you don't have to buy it if you don't want to," Pamela suggested sounding hopeful.

Harleen held in a sigh at this, she knew her friend wouldn't back down and Harleen didn't feel like arguing with her over something so inconsequential. "Fine, I'll see you then, bye," she finished then hung up the phone quickly.

The shopping day was actually the same day as the funeral. The two ate bagels and drank tea as they browsed through the stores that sold the clothing Harleen would need. Trying on the uniforms wasn't as awkward as Harleen thought it would be.

"I told you it wouldn't be to bad," Pamela stated as Harleen walked out wearing her fourth set of scrubs.

"I'm just glad I get to pick the colours," Harleen said as she stared down at the dark red top and black pants.

"Did they say anything about shoes?" Pamela inquired as she noticed Harleen's old sneakers.

"I just need non-skid shoes. They also advised I wear a long sleeve shirt under these," Harleen answered as she re-entered the change room.

"Makes sense. Don't you get some kind of smock to wear over your clothes as well?" Pamela inquired as she tried to recall the garments Harleen would be wearing.

"Yep, those are looked after by the hospital though. I think I've figured out the sizing now," Harleen told Pamela as she changed out of the scrubs.

Now that Harleen knew how the garments were supposed to fit she managed to find a good number of them for herself. After storing them in Pamela's car, she owned a small car but hated to use it because it was bad for the environment.

Now they were driving towards another mall to try on the one thing Harleen was dreading. Pamela practically dragged her into the largest lingerie store in the place. After getting fitted which Harleen found very awkward the two were lead around the store by a sales woman who reeked of perfume. After trying on all the bras that were given to her she found one that fit quite well but decided not to buy it due to the price.

They left the store after Pamela bought three things herself. "It sucks that the only one you liked was to pricey," Pamela stated looking over at her friend.

Harleen merely shrugged in response as the two walked on.

"I'll drive you home now as it's getting late and I promised my mom I'd cook tonight," Pamela explained as they headed for the exit.

"That would be good. I could do with dinner myself," Harleen stated sounding a little exhausted.

"At least you got everything else you needed," Pamela said with a small shrug as she unlocked her car.

"Ya, now I just gotta wash them and make sure I bring enough extras with me when I start," Harleen responded as she got into the car.

Just after turning on the car Harleen popped the radio on as she did not feel like talking.

This turned out to be advantageous as just before the song ended the emergency broadcast for the city came on.

The broadcast said to avoid the downtown financial area as one of the infamous crime bosses was currently having a standoff with the police there.

"I wonder which one it is this time?" Pamela mumbled to herself in an annoyed tone as she now had to take a longer route back to Harleen's place.

"I prefer it when they say which one it is, rather then this general garbage," Harleen stated in a somewhat irritated manner.

"Why's that?" Pamela questioned sounding confused.

"Because of my studies. If it's one of the ones I'm doing my research on this helps me determine whether or not it's worth looking up what happened. Without a solid identification I'll have to look it up myself and possibly waste my time," Harleen explained as the music came back on after the regular radio announcer.

"I can see why that would be bothersome. I mean you already have a lot of work after all," Pamela pointed out as she turned another corner.

"Ugh, you have no idea," Harleen lamented as she leaned back in her seat and looked out the window.

"Which ones are you studying exactly?" Pamela inquired in an interested voice.

"Are you familiar with their aliases or their actual names?" Harleen queried as she was not sure of Pamela's level of knowledge on this subject.

"Honestly I don't even know if I remember the aliases. So far no one I know aside from you has any interest in these things except to stay as far away as possible from the whole mess," Pamela told Harleen as she pulled over slightly so an ambulance could rush past them.

"Do you remember their physical descriptions?" Harleen questioned as she tried to figure out how to explain things.

"Probably," Pamela answered as she resumed driving at the normal speed.

"Well there's the guy who has to be kept in the cold suit. The one with the deformed hands and the one who looks similar to a clown. There are other criminals as well but those are the ones I'm specifically studying," Harleen informed Pamela as they stopped at a traffic light.

Once home Harleen put away everything neatly, then instead of eating booted up her laptop to do some more research for her scrapbook.

The following Monday just before Harleen was about to head home she ran into her sister. The young women looked positively livid as she stared at her younger sister. "Why didn't you come?' Kathrynn asked in a low whisper, her hands balled into fists at her sides.

"I didn't think it would be a good idea," Harleen answered simply as she stared back at Kathrynn with a blank expression.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Kathrynn questioned sounding slightly vicious at Harleen's response.

"Well, seeing as you and Nathan were likely both there and you both don't want to be around me I thought it best I didn't attend," Harleen explained as Kathrynn's expression kept getting more furious.

"Don't give me your bullshit Harleen. I gave you that invitation cause Nathan and I agreed you should be there. We agreed because she wouldn't want us fighting with you like this," Kathrynn retorted as tears formed in her eyes.

"That may be so, but you didn't tell me any of that when you handed me the invitation. I'm not psychic Kathrynn so it's not like I would have known unless you said something to me," Harleen stated as her expression remained unreadable.

"Stop making excuses, stop blaming us for your uncaring attitude," Kathrynn yelled back as she stepped closer to Harleen.

Harleen sighed before replying sounding annoyed, "As this conversation is going nowhere and I have other places to be I'm going to leave now."

As Harleen turned to walk away from Kathrynn her sister grabbed her by the hair quickly and yanked her back. "You don't even care, you don't even care," Kathrynn screeched as she pulled her sister around to face her then punched her in the face.

Harleen yelped at the sudden blow and stumbled back almost falling over. As Kathrynn advanced on her to continue the assault she threw her hands up instead of hitting back. Harleen allowed Kathrynn to bring her to the ground and continue punching her as she knew it would not last long.

It took only a few seconds for Harleen to hear people yelling and running over to them. Her sister was pulled off her by two guys as another leaned down to see if Harleen was alright.

Harleen glared at Kathrynn with tears in her eyes and yelled, "this right here is why I didn't go. Cause I knew no matter what I said or how I said it you two would end up misinterpreting it. I do care Kathrynn, she was my mother too." The girl then appeared to break down sobbing.

Kathrynn looked stricken by what she had just done to her sibling. "Harleen please I," she began as she reached towards her younger sister.

Harleen inched away from her and said in a pleading voice, "p-please just s-stay away from me. All you people ever do is hurt me. And besides I don't see how you could have wanted me there as you sided with that bastard when he beat me for doing what was right." Harleen practically threw this last bit of information in her sisters face.

Kathrynn backed away unsure of what to do. One of the young men who had come offered to take Harleen to the on-campus nurse. "Yes, thank you," she replied as she turned to follow him.

After visiting the nurse Harleen was sent home with an ice pack and a letter to get the next day off. Once she was home she examined all of her injuries as usual and noted them in her journal. There wasn't much visible damage but her back ached quite a bit. She assumed this was from when she fell over as her sister leaped on her.

Harleen went to class the next day anyway as there was an important test and she had to hand in an extra credit assignment about her placement that summer.

Once the semester ended and Harleen's job started she felt more relaxed. On the very first day she was shown were she would be working and it was full of equipment she had only read about. There was also a fresh corpse being prepped for transport to the morgue.

They were starting Harleen here on body prep then later on that month she would be trained on how to process bodies down in the morgue. She looked forward most to this as she had never seen an actual autopsy herself and couldn't wait to try it herself.

As the summer passed and Harleen got more and more invested in her job she completely forgot to phone John and Pamela for almost six weeks.

It was a week and a half before Harleen's birthday when Pamela phoned Harleen up sounding worried. "Why haven't you returned my calls," she asked sounding more than a little hurt.

"Sorry Pamela I've just been so caught up with work. All the in-field stuff is just so interesting, before I know it I'm at the hospital till eight or nine at night," Harleen explained apologetically.

Pamela sighed before replying in a slightly annoyed tone, "you always get to caught up in work."

"I know and I'm sorry. So what did you want, why did you call?" Harleen asked as she fell backwards on to her bed.

"I called to talk and to invite you to something," Pamela answered still sounding a little miffed.

"Invite me to what?" Harleen questioned as she stretched out her legs.

"I'm having a party with all my Eco Warrior friends and I thought you might like to come as it's just after your birthday and we can celebrate together before the party starts. I guess if you're working so much though you won't be able to come will you?" Pamela explained sounding disappointed.

"Hmmm, that depends on when you're having it. The hospital is making me take some time off in the next couple of weeks because with everything I've had to learn I've been going in everyday and they don't want me to use up all my contracted hours before the new school year starts," Harleen informed Pamela as she got up off the bed to go and check her calendar.

Pamela told her the date as Harleen scanned that week. "You're in luck I have both the Friday and the Saturday off so it should be fine," she told her friend quickly then turned away from the wall.

"Oh that's awesome, thanks so much," Pamela exclaimed excitedly.

"You're welcome. Now I have to go, I have a bunch of research to do for tomorrow's mock group therapy session," Harleen stated as she headed back towards her living room.

"Okay, bye," Pamela answered sounding cheerful.

Pamela and Harleen met up early the morning of the party. The two went shopping for the food for the party as Pamela was planning on making nachos and home made pizza.

Pamela brought Harleen to a small café that did custom cupcakes for her birthday present.

"So what base do you want?" The shop owner asked as Harleen scanned the shelves.

"Hmm, that one," Harleen answered as she pointed to a red velvet cupcake.

"Alright, well tell me what ya want on it and I'll split it for the two of ya," the woman told them as she turned to look at the topping board above her head.

Harleen chose red and black cream cheese icing with rainbow sprinkles.

They headed back to Pamela's place after this and began setting up for the party.

As the guests began to arrive they introduced themselves and began putting their own food and beverage items on the table. Harleen noticed that most of them were around Pamela's age or older and almost all of them brought alcohol.

Harleen mostly kept to herself and just enjoyed the food for the first while as not many people were bothering with it at first.

It did not take long for a few people to start getting drunk. Harleen felt completely out of place as she sat silently next to Pamela who was getting steadily more tipsy.

"Hey you need a new one," Pamela asked as she leaned towards Harleen, her breath smelling heavily of booze.

"Sure, just remember no alcohol," Harleen answered sheepishly.

Pamela waved away Harleen's comment and replied, "ya, ya I know miss underage." The woman then got up to get them their drinks.

Harleen watched her weaving slightly as she walked towards the kitchen where a small group of people were sitting by all the liquor. The girl was thinking of getting up to leave as it was getting late and people were beginning to act out due to their drinking.

One of the guys sitting across from Harleen suddenly asked, "hey what's your name again?'

"It's Harleen," she answered looking over at him.

"Harleen huh, that's a nice name," he said with a smile as he leaned forward in his seat. "I'm Adrian," he told her as he extended his hand for her to shake. The girl shook his hand quickly as Pamela sat back down next to her. After Harleen took a large gulp of her drink Adrian asked, "how do you know Pamela?'

"Oh we met at University, we had the same elective class in our first year and we just sort of got along after that," Harleen answered then took another sip.

"Oh I see what class was that," Adrian questioned and then took a sip of his own drink.

"It was Movies and Film in The 20th Century," Harleen recalled as she set her drink on her leg with her hand covering the top.

"I never took that course. Was it any good?" Adrian questioned sounding interested.

"It was okay," Harleen answered truthfully as she took another sip of her drink.

Harleen and Adrian kept talking like this for a while and that was the last thing she remembered. Next thing the girl knew she woke up face down on a bed that did not feel like hers.

Harleen lifted her head up and felt pain instantly shoot through her whole skull. Harleen blinked several times as the room around her came into focus. As the girl's senses came back to her she realized not only that she was in a strange place but that she was entirely naked and sore in all the wrong places.

Harleen yelled in anguish as she realized what must have happened to her. The worst part was she didn't remember anything about the previous night beyond half the conversation she had with Adrian. As the girl got up slowly she listened to make sure she was alone. It seemed the girl's assaulter had already left and she was in a cheap motel room.

Harleen gingerly got out of bed and tried not to look at herself as she knew it would only disgust her at that moment.

As Harleen gathered up her clothes and checked her phone which was miraculously still in her purse she wondered vaguely where she was.

After getting dressed and quickly checking her appearance Harleen left the room and began to walk along the road. The girl did not recognize where she was but she hoped she was still in the city.

Harleen had been walking for thirty minutes and had just begun considering asking for directions when she saw up ahead of her a building she recognized. It was the local library which was a good hour long walk from her current home.

After catching the bus home Harleen immediately got into the shower and washed herself with scalding hot water.

Harleen had to resist the urge to punch the shower walls knowing that it would do nothing but hurt her hand. The girl wanted to track down whomever had done this to her and disembowel them, she wanted to skin them alive to do the things to them she was being taught in her cadaver classes.

After getting out of the bathroom Harleen heard her phone ringing. She answered and heard Pamela on the other end, "did you make it home alright last night?"

Harleen had an urge to yell at her friend but knew it would do no good. Pamela probably didn't know what had happened to her any more than she did. She already knew the woman wasn't the type to allow these things to happen to others. "Ya I did," was all Harleen said in response.

"Oh good, I figured you went home last night since you weren't here when I woke up," Pamela stated with a yawn.

"Ya I'm fine, things just got a little to rowdy for me is all," Harleen explained sounding apologetic.

"Sorry about that. It really isn't fun to be the only sober person at a party like that," Pamela said sounding sorry herself.

"It's alright. The food was good anyway," Harleen told Pamela which was true.

"Ya it was wasn't it. Well I gotta go Harleen, everyone who stayed over wants to go out for breakfast," Pamela stated as someone began talking to her in the background.

"Kay well I'll talk to you another time, bye," Harleen responded then hung up the phone.

As the weeks went by after what happened to her Harleen wanted more and more desperately to forget.

It had started coming back to Harleen in snippets and she just wanted more then anything to get these images out of her head. She knew what she was suffering from due to her research but try as she might her attempts at self counselling did nothing.

The worst part though were the nightmares that had started just a week after. The girl would wake up in a cold sweat and she was unable to fall back asleep again even if less then an hour had passed.

Harleen began to look up everything he could on how to get rid of nightmares but nothing she tried worked.

It had been almost six weeks since Harleen had been raped when Pamela phoned her once again.

Harleen could barely understand her friend as she spoke rapidly, "I have to get rid of the alcohol or I'll lose my lease."

Harleen didn't know why Pamela just didn't throw the stuff out. "And you can't throw it away why?" She asked sounding more than a little annoyed.

"Because my landlord is coming in an hour and I don't have time. Most of them are still half full or unopened and they're already in my car. I don't want to just get rid of them either as some of them are very expensive," Pamela explained as Harleen sat there was her head in her hand.

"Fine whatever, just don't forget to pick them up as soon as possible," Harleen told Pamela as she stood up.

"Oh thank you so much, I'll be right over," Pamela said then hung up the phone.

Pamela left immediately after dropping off the alcohol. Harleen couldn't understand why she had so much of it. There were three bags full of different sized bottles. All of it was either wine or hard liquor and as she said it was largely unopened or half full.

Harleen felt thoroughly annoyed now and decided to go out and kill again as she had just procured the last thing she needed to do this.

It did not take Harleen long to capture a blue jay as she patiently waited by its empty nest.

The small creature was no match for Harleen as she tied its beak shut and vivisected it slowly.

Unfortunately, the only past she found somewhat calming was when she slowly took apart it's feet. This she summarised was probably due to how delicately she had to work to separate each tiny part as the bird struggled.

The rest of the operation left her feeling unsatisfied and slightly sour about how bad things were for her at the moment.

A few more weeks had passed since then and Harleen still couldn't sleep. It was getting so bad that her work was being affected and she had begun to nod off at her desk. Her other colleagues had begun to notice and her supervisor even asked her if she was doing alright.

"I'm fine, just haven't been sleeping well recently," Harleen explained looking up at her supervisor.

"You sure you aren't overworking yourself?" The women asked looking concerned.

"Yes I'm sure. I just been having trouble falling asleep is all," Harleen reassured her.

"Well just in case I want you to take tomorrow off and rest," she told the girl sounding stern. Harleen knew there was no point in arguing this so she agreed.

As hard as Harleen tried that night and well into the next day she either couldn't sleep or if she did drift off it wasn't long till the nightmares started. She was at her wits end and didn't know what to do.

Harleen had tried killing animals in various ways but even that had not helped in the slightest. The girl had even contemplated stealing a cat from a far away neighbourhood or else trying to find ally cats downtown.

Harleen was pacing around her apartment in frustration when she kicked her wardrobe. She heard a tinkling sound coming from inside and looked inside in curiosity. The girl had forgotten that she had hidden the bags full of alcohol in it. She used the wardrobe for her excess winter clothing so she didn't go in it often.

Harleen slowly reached into one of the bags and pulled out a bottle. It was an unopened bottle of rum. As she stood there looking at the bottle something in her brain kicked in automatically and she opened the bottle and took a swig. The taste was terrible and it burned her throat. The girl bent over coughing and spluttering from the harshness of it. Harleen straightened up after a few minutes then glanced back at the bottle. The girl didn't like what she was contemplating but at this point she was desperate.

That night Harleen drank till she felt sleepy and she knew she must be drunk. The girl finally fell asleep and didn't dream. When she woke up the next morning she felt a little better. She had no hangover as far as she could tell and her body was rested for the first time in over a month.

Harleen began drinking every night to avoid the nightmares. No one noticed as it didn't affect her grades or her work. She only ever drank enough to sleep and nothing more.

Harleen's mind though was violently protesting her actions. The girl knew this was bad for her, knew she should deal with what was happening to her. She also knew the stigma attached to what had happened to her and she didn't want to deal with all the trouble it would bring.

Harleen had begun to self-harm once more but this time she used her wrists. Since she lived alone and generally wore long sleeves she knew no one would notice.

At Harleen's work she was usually fully suited up and wore long sleeves under her scrubs due to the air conditioning.

Since Harleen's performance level at her internship was once again back on track and she was still doing well in school no one suspected a thing. She also decided if Pamela asked her for the alcohol back she would lie and say she had to get rid of it.

Things went on like that for quite some time without issue until John said to Harleen, "is something wrong?" he seemed to be watching her more than usual lately.

"Nope," Harleen answered as she took a bite of her sandwich.

"Well I noticed you haven't been talking as much lately or eating as much," John informed Harleen as he peered down at her.

"I'm fine John really, you don't need to worry," Harleen assured her friend before taking another bite.

"Alright," John responded though he did not sound convinced as he looked at Harleen with concern.

Harleen new John was sharper about these things than most people and decided to put in more effort to act as though things were the same as ever.

Now as the months went by and Harleen began running out of alcohol she knew she had to think up something. What the girl did decide to do though she knew would be highly illegal if she got caught.

Harleen made herself a fake I.D and began trying to apply makeup. She had never done this before as she saw no use for the stuff. The girl also knew she would have to go to bars in the shadier parts of town in order to not get found out.

After figuring out everything Harleen knew she would need to bring along protection of some kind. People in that area wouldn't be deterred by things like mace or keys so instead she modified a small backpack to carry what she would need.

Harleen made an invisible compartment on each side of it to carry hammers. Harleen knew from experience that they probably wouldn't be lethal but they would at least subdue her attacker if she swung them right.

Once Harleen had everything in hand and her booze supply had truly run out she decided to try out her idea.

 **Thanks for joining me again and I trust you enjoyed the read. Because if you didn't, well there's nothing I can do about that anyways.**

 **I also want to take this opportunity to inform all of you that I after the next chapter posting in two weeks I will be posting monthly there after. This is due to me needing more time to commit to writing the book I am working on. If any of you are interested please follow me on twitter or instagram.**

 **Until next time my dear readers, I bid you a fulfilling day.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **RJ Meijers**


	7. Chapter 7: The Second Encounter

**Hello Readers,**

 **Honestly just kept forgetting to post this as I have now been working full throttle on my book. I'm actually almost finished. I decided to post this right now though cause I remembered it was finished.**

 **Not sure when I'll post again but it may take months. Sorry guys I just really want to finish something I've started for once. Anyway I think you'll find this interesting. Either way it's up to you though.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **RJ Meijers**

 **Chapter 7: Second Encounter**

The guy at the front door to the club Harleen had chosen let her in easily. She knew this place was probably just looking for fresh customers and being young and female the boys would follow.

That was the one thing the Harleen hated about this, she had to expose herself in a way that was uncomfortable and foreign to her. The clothing was the worst part as the girl had to hide the scars while at the same time showing enough skin to make the right impression.

Harleen drank her fill of booze as quickly as possible then slipped out a back entrance to get back home. As this became a nightly routine for her, she quickly learned which bars where a better bargain for her money and which ones watered down their booze.

Harleen was at one of the four bars she now frequented when the bartender handed her a drink before she even asked. As the girl had not watched the man prepare the drink, she purposely spilled it after pretending to drink a little.

For two months Harleen managed to pull off this ruse with almost no problems. That was until she noticed her alcohol tolerance was going up and she was still slightly drunk the next morning when she went to class.

John had also been increasingly vehement that something was wrong with her and even Pamela had started to take notice. Harleen brushed them off each time just saying that her internship was getting more demanding as they were beginning to conduct mock exams for her group therapy skills.

"Have you asked them to slow things down a little? If you're overworking yourself that won't end well," John advised Harleen in a mildly stern tone.

"Like I said it's only for the next little while that it will be this busy. I can hold out and besides if I slow down my internship will take longer," Harleen pointed out in a somewhat sour voice.

John let out a frustrated sigh before saying, "just don't overdo it. You won't be able to finish at all if you burn yourself out."

"Like I said don't worry so much. It will be over soon then I can get some more rest," Harleen reassured John then took a sip of her water.

It was another Friday night and Harleen had decided this was the last time she would go to the bars as her tolerance was becoming to high. After entering the bar she sat down on the far side of the bar front and ordered her usual.

Harleen was on her second drink when the last person she wanted to see walked up beside her and ordered a drink.

It was John and he instantly recognized Harleen as she sat there looking more than a little alarmed. Instead of waiting for his drink the young man grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away from the bar without a word. Halfway across the room he signaled at someone else then proceeded to drag the girl outside.

John only let go of Harleen once they were outside and to her dismay the other person with him was Pamela.

"What the hell where you doing in there?" John practically yelled at Harleen sounding extremely angry.

"Probably the same thing you were," Harleen retorted sounding equally as angry.

John paused for a moment, caught by surprise at her truthful retort. John then sighed and asked, "is this why you've been acting weird lately?"

Harleen sighed as well knowing there was no point fighting about this, though she had to think fast to cover her tracks. "Partially yes, I was using it as a bit of a stress reliever," she told him trying to sound slightly guilty.

"Harleen, you know that's one of the worst things you can do," John informed Harleen crossing his arms.

"Maybe so, but what about you then?" Harleen replied sounding a little resentful at John's words.

"Sorry Harleen, it was my idea. I wanted to go out tonight and had no one to go with," Pamela chimed in sounding remorseful.

"Really, and you guys are lecturing me," Harleen stated sounding even more frustrated.

"How bout we all just forget about this and go home," John suggested as he looked from one young woman to the other.

Harleen shook her head slightly then seemed to deflate in a defeated sort of way. "Ya, alright," the girl responded in a tone of finality.

Harleen felt terrible that she had been caught as this would mean she would have to come up with another idea to stave off the nightmares.

As the three of them were about to exit the alleyway behind the bar a man turned the corner and blocked their way.

"Excuse us," John said then tried to step around the man.

"I think not," the man replied pulling out a small handgun.

At the sight of the weapon Harleen instinctively reached for the hidden hammers in her backpack. She had made sure the openings where at her hand height so as not to arouse suspicion in a situation like this.

Harleen released the small snaps holding the compartments closed and allowed them both to drop down somewhat. This way she was holding them by her sides near the very end of the handle. The girl knew this would give her maximum swing strength if she got a good amount of momentum.

The man backed the three of them up against the alleyway wall. Harleen watched him closely as John fumbled for his wallet clearly in a state of panic. The instant the man lowered his gun slightly Harleen took her opportunity.

Harleen took a wide step forward and swung the first hammer up directly at the man's chin. A split second later as the man stood slightly dazed the gun only vaguely held now, she swung the second one directly at his back. He crumpled slightly, the girl took this time to swing back down with her left hand landing a blow directly on the top of his head.

Once he was down from this Harleen did not stop, she kept swinging wildly. Part way through she realized the thrill she was getting from this. More than alcohol almost as good as killing the animals. Something seemed to solidify in her mind as she continued to beat the man into a bloody mess. This was fun, beating people was exhilarating.

Finally, as the man at Harleen's feet stopped stirring she paused panting, with a crazed smile on her face. She stood there for a good few minutes before her adrenaline-fueled thoughts were interrupted by the sound of clapping.

Harleen's head whipped around at the new sound and she saw to her utter astonishment that Man. He was slowly walking up to the three of them and was clapping rather enthusiastically, as though he had just seen an entertaining show.

He stopped about two feet behind Harleen before he finished clapping. "Well, well, that was quite the performance if I do say so myself," he stated as he swayed back and forth on his heels with his hands held behind his back.

Harleen was unsure how to reply, but she also felt overly thrilled. He was here, he had just seen what she was capable of. The girl stood up and stepped slightly away from the man's bloody body.

This is when Harleen saw her handiwork for the first time under the glare from the artificial light in the alleyway.

Harleen could clearly see several sunken in parts of the man's face. His arms and legs were splayed out and the upper half of his shirt was a bloody mess. Both of his eyes were blackened and his nose and teeth were almost all gone by this point.

Even the pavement was covered in dark streaks of fresh blood.

The man walked around to the body and leaned down to examine it. All the while Harleen never took her eyes off of him. He felt the man's neck then made a slight tutting sound. "Still alive," he said sounding a little disappointed.

Harleen felt the world crash down around her slightly. She had not done a good enough job, even though it was an impromptu one.

The Man straightened up then faced Harleen. "Well, for what I'm assuming is your first try, it was rather impressive how much you got into it," he told her with a slight smile.

Harleen said nothing to this as she knew Pamela and John were still standing there watching in horror.

He stepped closer to Harleen and put his hands on the back of her arms. He slid his hands down to her hands then said, "if only you were a little older," he began then slid his hands up her bare wrists feeling the fresh cut marks there. "And a little more battle scarred," he finished then took the hammers from her.

"Wha," Harleen began sounding confused.

The Man held his hand up and Harleen fell silent. "I'll take the blame for this one, after all this was supposed to be his initiation," he explained as he glanced down at the man still unmoving on the ground.

"Ummm," Harleen said unsure of what came next.

"Go, I'm sure if you keep doing these things we'll meet again," The Man told Harleen then walked off in the other direction.

Harleen's mind finally seemed to catch up and she bolted without a single word to Pamela or John.

Harleen ran flat out for several blocks before finally pausing to catch her breath. She knew she must be in a horrible state and needed to get home quickly. After glancing around and realizing where she was the girl knew she could be home in ten minutes if she walked fast enough.

Once home Harleen ran to look at herself in the mirror. Most of her body and clothing was covered in small flecks of dried blood and her hair and makeup were a mess.

After getting cleaned up instead of writing in her journal as Harleen would usually have done after this sort of thing she went straight to bed out of sheer exhaustion.

No nightmares came to Harleen that night and she was surprised when she woke up in the morning feeling refreshed.

As Harleen made her breakfast she went over the previous night in her mind and came to one conclusion. She needed more training, but not the intellectual kind.

The Man had made Harleen realize just how weak she was and that she knew must be rectified if she was to be indispensable to him. The girl also had the idea that it might help her sleep and would definitely come in handy if she had any more unwanted encounters.

Before looking into these things though Harleen made another passage in her journal about her latest encounter.

Harleen first noted the details of how she beat the man who tried to rob them. After this she went over what she could remember of the blood splatter both at the scene and on herself. Lastly, she wrote down everything she could recall about That Man, right down to their short conversation.

After looking through a few different websites Harleen found exactly what she was looking for. An all women's mixed martial arts training group. Once she looked over her schedule and that of the groups various training times she knew she would have to do some reorganizing to fit it in.

On Monday Harleen felt a little worried about what Pamela and John might say to her but to her relief neither of them sought her out. The girl thought this a little odd but just assumed they were still sorting things out in their own heads, either that or they were now afraid of her. This did not bother Harleen though as she never really wanted to bother with them in the first place.

After Harleen's classes were finished she went to the building where the martial arts group was being held. Upon entering she noticed there was a lot of different sections to the gym area. The entryway was well lit and looked like any other office building entry with a small desk at the front and several doors leading to other rooms. The only difference being the many trophies and medals that adorned the walls. The older lady at the desk smiled at her cheerfully.

"Hello, are you looking to sign up for classes or just a tour?" The woman asked Harleen kindly.

"I'd like to sign up, but I would like a tour first, if that's okay?" Harleen asked giving the woman a small smile.

"Sure thing. Just one moment please," the woman replied then grabbed a phone on the desk.

She waited a few moments before someone on the other end picked up. "Hey Cheryl, I have a young lady here who would like a tour before signing up for classes," the woman explained to the person on the other end of the phone.

The woman on the other end said something Harleen could not make out then the other woman replied with, "alright, see you in a few minutes." She then hung up the phone and looked back up at Harleen.

Harleen was looking at the woman somewhat expectantly. "Cheryl will be here in a moment to show you around. You may take a seat over there," the woman informed Harleen then nodded towards a row of metal folding chairs against the opposite wall.

"Thank you," Harleen stated cheerfully then took a seat.

Harleen glanced behind her at the medals strung up on the wall just above her head. The awards had been given to various different people in all different martial arts categories.

Just as Harleen was about to get up and inspect some of the larger trophies that where lined up on the floor by the desk a short, somewhat plump woman, with dark brown hair that was kept short, walked out from a door to her left. The woman looked over at Harleen for a moment as though caught off guard.

Harleen knew she did not exactly look the type to sign up for martial arts classes, what with her business attire and glasses dangling from her neck.

"Are you the one who wanted the tour?" The woman asked in a slight southern drawl.

Harleen stood up and turned before answering, "yep." Then she gave the woman a cheerful smile.

"Alright follow me, the names Cheryl by the way," the woman stated then turned as Harleen walked towards her.

"I'm Harleen," Harleen responded then followed Cheryl through the door.

The facility was rather larger than Harleen was expecting. Not only did it have three dojos, there was also a gym and even a sparring area specifically for matches. The locker room had showers and everyone it seemed had their own personal locker.

"That about does it," Cheryl told Harleen as they walked back through to the reception area.

"Thank you," Harleen said pretending to sound eager as she looked around the room once more.

"You're quite welcome," Cheryl said then handed Harleen off to the receptionist who was just hanging up the phone.

"Well what did you think?" The woman asked sounding expectant as she looked up at Harleen.

"It was a lot bigger than I thought," Harleen answered truthfully as she heard loud voices coming from an adjoining hallway.

"I hear that a lot," the woman responded then chuckled a little.

"Are there any forms I need to fill out?" Harleen asked stepping closer to the desk.

"Yep, here you go, and here's a pen," the woman responded then handed Harleen a small package of papers and a pen.

"Thanks," Harleen said then took the items from the woman.

It did not take long to read through the few pages but then she noticed she needed a guardian signature for being under eighteen.

Harleen went up to the desk to inquire. "Umm, for the guardian signature. I'm actually emancipated from my parents and have full legal status as an adult. So, would it be alright to bring in my paperwork showing that so I can sign it myself?" The girl asked as she pointed out the line on the forms.

The receptionist looked slightly confused at this as she had obviously never heard of this before. "I don't see it being a problem but let me just get the manager to look into things first and we can call you back about it," she told Harleen as the girl stood there looking expectant.

"Alright then, I'll return the forms as soon as I can after you find out," Harleen replied as she picked the papers back up. "I guess I should just leave my name and number for now?" Harleen mused as she opened her laptop bag to put the papers in it.

"Yep," the woman replied as she handed a pen and a sticky note pad to Harleen.

It was almost a full three days before the manager finally got back to Harleen about the papers.

"I looked into it and from what I can see you signing for yourself should be fine," the manager confirmed as she leaned back in her swivel chair.

"Oh good, I'll drop the forms off tomorrow then," Harleen told the woman sounding pleased.

"Well I hope you enjoy it here," The manager stated in a satisfied tone.

"I'm sure I will, and thanks again," Harleen replied as she switched hands.

"I guess we'll see you tomorrow," the woman answered as Harleen heard the sound for the other line going off. "I think I have another phone call so I'll let you go," the manger informed the girl as Harleen took a sip of her tea.

"Alright then, bye," Harleen responded then hung up the phone.

"Well that all seems to be in order, you can start tomorrow. Just make sure to bring clothes that are easy to move in or you can purchase some of the gyms training clothes," the woman informed her as she opened a drawer full of files under the desk.

"I think I'll just see what you have available here," Harleen answered sounding unsure.

"Very well, just let me find a catalogue," the woman told her then began opening drawers in the desk.

After a few minutes of rummaging around the woman handed Harleen a rather thick magazine. "Here you are. We keep most of the stuff in stock here so just show me what you want and I'll write it down and have someone check for your size. Also you'll need to bring a lock for your locker," the woman told her as Harleen began to flip through the catalogue.

After choosing several outfits as well as some sparring gear Harleen paid for all of it and the woman had someone bring the stuff up.

"Try it all on at home then if anything doesn't fit just bring it back and we'll exchange it," the woman stated after putting all of Harleen's purchases in bags.

"Thank you, I'll do that," Harleen responded as she picked up the bags and gave the woman an appreciative smile.

Harleen started classes the next day and although she found following the rhythm to be boring she knew this was a means to an end as without the alcohol and no means to tire herself out the nightmares had begun to come back.

Harleen chose to practice at home as well as her lessons at the gym for this seemed to exhaust her enough to sleep peacefully.

Within a few months Harleen noted the changes in her body that this new regime was causing. Marking down her progress in her journal she had even begun to spar with others at the place. The girl knew she had to hold back during these times but sorely wished she could swing as hard as she wanted.

During this whole time neither Pamela or John approached Harleen and whenever they passed her in the halls they all but ignored her. This suited her though as she felt she had no time for them what with her internship becoming more demanding as well as her time spent at the gym.

Harleen's instructor took notice of her devotion to learning all the different styles and mentioned entering some upcoming competitions. The girl declined however explaining that it would interfere with her schooling.

"That's a damn shame Harleen," her instructor stated sounding a little disappointed.

"I'm sorry instructor Joanna, it's just I'm in the middle of the most critical part of my education," Harleen explained sounding apologetic.

"No need to apologize," Joanna said waving her hand dismissively. "You gotta get your education after all. You're just about finished high school aren't cha?" the woman asked sounding curious.

"No actually, I'm actually in an advanced course to become a criminal psychiatrist," Harleen explained sounding a little sheepish.

Joanna looked understandably flabbergasted at this news. "But you're only like seventeen aren't cha?" She asked sounding more than a little confused.

"I'm fifteen actually, I won't be sixteen until the summer," Harleen explained as the woman's astonishment mounted.

"Wow, you must be one smart cookie then. What are you doing wasting time here?" Joanna asked sounding a little skeptical.

"Well I figured since I'm likely going to be working in a prison or high security psychiatric hospital I should know how to defend myself," Harleen informed Joanna with a timid smile.

Joanna nodded then said, "makes sense. Well keep up the good work is all I can say."

"I plan to," Harleen replied with a cheerful smile.

"Well I guess I'll let you get back to practicing," Joanna stated then nodded towards the training area.

"Thanks," Harleen responded then turned to renter the training area.

After being at the gym for several months and having gone up a few belts in a very short amount of time some of the other women who were training there began talking behind Harleen's back.

Harleen noticed them congregated in small groups muttering to one another and as they glanced in her direction. The girl chose to ignore them as she had no time for petty jealousies.

There were no problems until the woman she had most recently sparred with came up to her. "Hey can I ask you a question?" The woman inquired sounding slightly cocky.

"Okay," Harleen replied trying to sound offhand.

"Why do you hold back when you spar with us?" The woman asked having clearly noticed Harleen's tendency to not use her full strength.

Harleen thought for a moment unsure whether to feign ignorance or answer somewhat truthfully. The girl knew from observation that this woman was rather amicable with everyone so hurting her pride would probably be a bad thing.

Harleen decided to choose her words carefully as she answered the woman, "well we've been taught to end the matches quickly while causing minimal damage, at least that's the message I've been getting from the instructors."

The woman gave Harleen a look like she was not satisfied with this answer. "Well that may be true, don't you ever want to test your limits?" The woman questioned further as she leaned against one of the arena posts.

Harleen contemplated this inquiry while she starred up at the ceiling for a moment and then replying, "well sure, but I'd rather not send someone to the hospital in the process."

The woman along with the other female's who were standing a little off to the side listening in giggled a little at this. "You really think you're that strong?" The woman asked sounding both smug and sarcastic.

"Well it's not just a matter of strength, there's also the techniques you utilize, as well as the ability to read your opponent," Harleen explained rather matter of factly.

"So, you're saying you think you know more than us even though we've been here longer," the woman stated sounding a little offended.

"I never said that," Harleen replied with a slight shake of her head. "I was merely explaining why I don't use my full strength," The girl finished with a slight shrug.

The woman looked as though she was about to reply in anger when one of the instructors walked in. "Alright ladies it's lesson time, follow me," she told them in a booming voice.

Without saying anything further Harleen turned on her heels and followed the instructor out of the training room.

Harleen had done her best not to take the woman's bait. She knew the woman was just trying to get her riled up enough to challenge her or make a fool of herself. There was also another reason Harleen had used this tactic though, she was afraid of loosing control.

Harleen had felt it a fair few times during her sparring matches. The urge to use all her strength, the urge to keep going even after her opponent had fallen. The girl knew she could not do these things though, at least not until she had gotten to a black belt level in all the martial arts offered at the center.

It was a good two months since Harleen had spoken to the woman but it seemed as though she had not gotten her fill. Somehow the woman had arranged another sparring match between her and Harleen.

The day of Harleen knew she must end the match quickly as the woman was likely out for blood.

After the bell sounded Harleen's suspicions were confirmed. The woman who Harleen finally realized was named Lisa thanks to the ring announcer came out with a powerful high kick aimed at Harleen's dominant hand.

Harleen was ready though, she caught the blow easily and threw it back at Lisa, throwing off her balance and causing her to stumble back. Harleen took her chance and jabbed with all her strength at the woman's now exposed midsection aiming specifically for her ovary. The woman crumpled more and Harleen stepped in aiming an elbow directly down at the Lisa's shoulder. The woman went down with a pained grunt, Harleen had felt something crunch under her elbow.

As Lisa collapsed to the floor the ref called time out and Harleen made to step away from the woman. As she turned though Lisa grabbed her by the legs causing her to fall over. Harleen caught herself just before she fell flat on her face, upon catching herself though she felt a shooting pain go through her hand.

"I'm not done yet," Lisa stated panting through the pain.

Instead of kicking Lisa as she would have done instinctively Harleen reached down to shove the woman off of her. The woman grunted in frustration at this and grabbed Harleen's arms then made to pin her. Just as the woman was about to thrust her to the floor two of the instructors grabbed Lisa from behind and dragged her off of Harleen.

"I said I'm not done yet," Lisa growled out in displeasure.

"Oh yes you are," the larger of the two instructors replied sounding slightly panicked as they dragged her out of the arena.

Harleen pretended to lay there in a daze until a third instructor came up to her and asked, "are you alright?"

Harleen turned to the woman with fake tears in her eyes. "I-I just, why would she," Harleen began but seemed unable to continue.

"Hey it's alright," the instructor stated squatting down next to Harleen.

"I just wanted to end the match quickly as I have a lot of homework. I told her before I don't like to draw out matches," Harleen explained stretching the truth a little.

"Hmmm, well someone like her who's been here a long time don't much care for it when new people appear to upstage them," the instructor explained with a weary sigh.

"I wasn't trying to, I just don't have that kind of time to fool around. I mean it's not like I can keep coming here forever with how demanding my schooling is," Harleen explained in a rather loud voice as she finally got up off the floor.

"Well unfortunately people don't always take those sorts of things into consideration," the instructor replied sounding slightly disappointed.

"Well I wish they would. I just want to be able to protect myself is all. I don't even like these sparring matches but they're mandatory for the belt qualifications," Harleen said in a worn-out tone as she made to leave the arena. Lisa was finally out of the training room after much dragging from the other instructors.

"I understand where you're coming from but unfortunately we gotta see you can apply these techniques in an at least slightly practical setting," the instructor told her as she followed after Harleen.

"I know, I just don't like it when that's the kind of result it yields," Harleen responded as she nodded in the direction Lisa had just gone.

"All I can really say is try to keep your head down and if anything happens and let us know right away if any of the other woman are harassing you or anything," the woman informed Harleen sounding sympathetic.

"I will, thanks for trying to reassure me," Harleen answered with a small smile.

"You're quite welcome," the instructor stated returning the smile.

Harleen had made sure to talk of these things cause of all the people gathered to watch the match that day. The girl wanted to ensure that no one else would bother her so she made it appear she was as busy as possible.

A few days after Harleen heard some of the other members talking about what had happened to Lisa.

"I heard after being lectured by the head instructor the only solution they could come up with was to transfer her to another gym," one woman with large box braids told the other four women that were standing around her.

"I'm surprised they didn't just kick her out of the whole circuit. I mean she was nice, but anytime she thought someone would surpass her she would act like a brat," a woman with bright purple hair that was shaved on the sides quipped in with a slight shake of her head.

The other women muttered in agreement at these words.

"What about that Harleen girl though? Is it really true what I've heard about her being in an advanced university course?" A woman that appeared to be in her forties with slightly graying brown hair asked sounding skeptical.

"Not sure, though I guess we could always ask her," the woman with the braids responded in a slightly intrigued tone.

"Ya maybe, though she doesn't seem all that sociable," a very petit woman chimed in though her voice was rather lower than one would expect for her size.

At this point Harleen decided she had had enough of eavesdropping as it appeared these women were no threat to her, so she got up and headed towards the training area.

"Oh, speak of the devil," the middle-aged woman said upon spotting Harleen walking past them.

Harleen gave them a quick wave but did not stop to chat as she saw no point to it.

At the university Harleen had finally been approved to start her residency even though she was still sixteen. They had originally wanted to wait till she was eighteen but she had convinced them using all her current work and by showing the beginning of her research papers which she could not complete until she had her psychiatric placement.

The university and the hospital did not want Harleen to keep being held back by such a technicality as it could ruin their reputation.

Harleen started at her residency in the ER just one week after turning sixteen.

The first few days in the emergency department were slow as Harleen worked the day shift. The most she got to see injury wise were a few broken bones and several children needing stitches.

It was not until the sixth day that anything remotely challenging happened. It was around the time of morning rush hour and a call came in for a large group of patients from a multi car pileup caused by one of the super criminals.

As the patients began to arrive one after the other Harleen rushed between about ten different patients and three other trauma doctors had to be called in to contend with the mess. After stitching together, the stomach of her forth patient who had internal bleeding Harleen wondered which villain had caused such a ruckus.

Harleen made a mental note to check the news once she was done her shift, she was worried about the state that Man might be in if he had caused this.

By the time Harleen's shift was over everyone was stitched up and the head ER surgeon wanted a debriefing before he would let the shift change occur.

"Alright, first off, good work everybody. I'm glad to see our new residence are quite skillful and that we had no casualties," the doctor stated sounding slightly prideful. "Now as this is her first experience with such a large batch of life threatening injuries I would like to hear your impression of how things went during the shift, Harleen if you would," he continued then directed his attention to Harleen.

Harleen leaned slightly forward in her chair and tried to look both eager and empathetic. "I would say I am glad that everyone here feels they can already rely on me to handle some of the larger emergency situations until you arrived. I also wanted to let the next shift know that Mr. Pertons mother may need some reassuring again soon about the progress of his condition as she would not take my word for it and wanted someone more 'experienced' as she put it," Harleen informed them with a sheepish smile.

"Well thank you for the praise Dr. Quinzel, is there anything else you would like to add?" The head surgeon asked in an encouraging tone.

Harleen shuffled through the notes on her lap. "Let's see, most of the patients have been moved to trauma recovery already, there are still two left here, Mrs. Luggins and Ms. Wallins. Both are stable but Ms. Wallins keeps insisting on taking no pain meds even though six of her ribs are broken," Harleen told them as she read off of her report.

"That seems good enough for now, if you could hand those papers to Nurse Daniel there you can begin getting ready to head home," the surgeon told Harleen as he clasped his hands together and gave them all a swift smile.

When Harleen arrived home she immediately got on her computer in order to see who had caused all the drama that morning.

To her relief it was not That Man but another new super criminal that she had not heard of before.

Harleen scanned the articles anyway as she knew they may be of use for her studies. It did not take long for her to find the criminals alias and for some reason it reminded her of Edward from when she went to the upgrading school.

After this first batch of trauma patients there seemed to be a never ending stream of them. This was due mainly to the increasing numbers if the super criminals in the city. It seemed a new one popped up every two weeks or so.

Harleen found the endless litany of patients exhausting as she was performing so well in her job that they were asking her to come in on her days off.

Harleen did this on the agreement that they would count it as work experience so she could move on to her psychiatric placement sooner. The girl knew she would not get into where she wanted until she was at least eighteen.

That though was only two years away and she knew her residency was supposed to take three years.

At the gym the woman with the purple hair came up to Harleen and held out the girl's cell phone to her. "You dropped this," she told Harleen as the girl paused to grab her phone.

"Thanks," Harleen stated as she walked over to were her water bottle was so she could take a drink.

"Do you practice at home?" The woman asked as she joined Harleen at the side of the room.

"Sure do," Harleen answered as she set her cell phone down next to her water bottle.

"That's why you got so good so fast," The woman responded then looked over at Harleen. "I'm Darlene by the way," she said as she held out her hand for the girl to shake it.

"Harleen," the girl introduced herself as she shook Darlene's hand.

"Are you planning on getting a black belt for all the styles?" Darlene questioned as Harleen walked back over to the punching bag.

"Not sure yet, I may not have the time," Harleen told Darlene as she realized the woman was just digging for information.

"Oh, why's that?" Darlene inquired sounding slightly confused.

"I'm afraid that's not your business," Harleen stated in a polite yet firm tone.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to be nosey," Darlene replied sounding sheepish.

"Well I don't know you and I've only really come here to train," Harleen explained as she turned to face the punching bag. "And to that end I would like to get back to things, so if you could please," Harleen said in a tone of finality.

"Umm, sorry," was all Darlene could think of to say before walking off.

Since Pamela and John were no longer in the picture Harleen's desire to make friends was dampened even further. With all the demands on her now between training and her residency she had zero time for socializing.

Harleen had not even bothered to try to get chummy with her fellow coworkers at the hospital. The girl could no longer be bothered beyond making the right impression to her superiors.

As Harleen steadily gained the hours she needed the girl also sent many essays and research papers about her placement to the university. She wanted to showcase the extra hours she had devoted without pay to her job.

Harleen's superiors had even volunteered to write recommendation letters for her so the extra hours could be counted.

"I hope these really do help," the head ER surgeon for that day said.

"They should from what I know. Also, thanks again for writing them. I really appreciate everyone being on board for this," Harleen told the woman as she leaned back in her chair.

"I still can't believe how fast you've progressed," the ER surgeon stated sounding somewhat perplexed.

"Well I'm here almost everyday and often stay for ten hour shifts when I can," Harleen pointed out with an ironic smile.

"Just don't burn yourself out," the woman advised in a knowing tone.

"Wasn't planning on it Doctor Hastings," Harleen reassured the woman as she sat up a little straighter.

"Either way, here's the letters," Dr. Hastings responded as she held out the envelope for Harleen.

"Thanks, are there any more missing?" Harleen inquired as she grabbed the rather thick envelope.

"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure we all agreed to it and as far as I know the last one came in today. Just in case though double check when you have the chance. After all the more the better, right," Dr. Hastings replied with a cheerful smile.

"My thoughts exactly," Harleen agreed as she opened her bag to put the envelope in it.

At home that evening Harleen ripped open the package and examined every letter carefully. The girl wanted to ensure she really had left the right impression and that no one tried to sabotage her progress.

From what Harleen could tell all of them were full of praise and admiration for her work. None of them even mentioned how much she avoided her other colleagues as she never showed this side of herself in front of her superiors.

Harleen had finally managed to get her coworkers to mostly leave her alone as she always dismissed their invitations. Now the girl only got an invite once a month but continued to turn even these down.

Harleen knew even after she handed in all the letters it would still be sometime before she heard anything back but hoped the response would be favourable.

Just in case Harleen also decided to draft more letters about where she wanted her future psychiatric placement to be after her medical internship was over.

With everything she was doing before Harleen knew it the first year of her medical residency was almost finished.

In order to celebrate this Harleen decided to celebrate by killing a new animal.

Harleen's medical residency although educational did not give her any thrill as she was saving lives instead of taking them. The girl had many a time fantasized about just killing her patients but knew she could never act on this. This was because she knew it would look bad if to many of her patients died. Harleen was also aware that the more people she saved the closer she got to her goal.

So, left with few options for stress relief beyond her martial arts training Harleen had scoured several neighborhoods for a possible victim.

To this end she had discovered to her delight her former professors place of residents.

Harleen had stumbled across it by accident when she recognized Professor Landry leaving a small convenience store.

Professor Landry looked as put together as ever, wearing his usual button-down shirt and grey slacks. The only difference Harleen noted about his appearance was that he was now considerably balder.

Harleen planned it out carefully as she stalked Professor Landry in unnoticeable ways. It did not take long for her to figure several patterns the man followed. She also thought it lucky that he lived on his own. The girl had figured this out by finding the mans hidden spare key.

The plan Harleen had was to keep Professor Landry locked in his own basement and slowly kill him over a few days. She was going to strap him between several unfinished posts in the man's basement. By watching him for so long she had noticed once a month the man would stay in his house for four days straight. This usually occurred either the first or the second week of the month.

Harleen was executing this plan just before her birthday as a sort of gruesome early present to herself.

Harleen's strategy was to use the man's own tools against him. The girl was glad she had broken in and studied everything carefully.

 **Sorry to leave it on such a cliff hanger.**


	8. Chapter 8: Chapter Revamp

**Chapter 8: Revamp Notice**

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the long delay on this story, I've had a lot going on in my life over the past while. Now though I feel the urge to work on this again, and to this end I have revamped my previous chapter's.  
This is not a complete rewrite but simply a revamp. I have added more details and expanded on some ideas previously presented.  
I hope you all enjoy the upgraded chapters and will continue to read my content. To this end I am going to be uploading the edited chapters once every two weeks as I am still working on them a little.  
In order to keep you guys informed I am going to set up a Twitter and an Instagram if you want updates. I will put both these links in my bio some time in the next few days.  
I also have other ideas I want to do for this story and other such things. To this end I would appreciate feedback both about my story and the ideas presented. /span/p  
I thank you all for your time and consideration regarding these matters. I really do hope you all enjoy what is about to unfold.

Sincerely,

RJ Meijers


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